By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
In a game that describes best how competitive this season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is, last-placed Alba Berlin defeats leaders Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 85-84 in an eventful match at Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Jaleen Smith was the top scorer of the winning side with 18 points, but Tamir Blatt almost had a double-double with 11 points and nine assists for the highest PIR of 19.
“We beat the first-placed team in the EuroLeague, big win, the atmosphere was really fun, so I’m really happy,” Blatt said after the game.
Louis Olinde and Maodo Lo added 11 points each, while Johannes Thiemann had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Pierria Henry led Baskonia with 19 points, Marcus Howard followed with 17, Darius Thompson added 15, and Rokas Giedraitis 10 points.
“We didn’t control defensive rebounds, we didn’t use tactical fouls and allowed a lot of easy layups to Berlin, and our rhythm in transition was bad. We needed to defend like in the last quarter,” head coach of Baskonia Joan Penarroya noted at the press conference.
Alba took control in the first quarter with a 17-3 run, but Baskonia cut the deficit to seven points with three-pointers from Howard and Sedekerskis in the last 35 seconds (27-20). The Spanish team then took the lead midway through the second quarter, but Alba finished it strongly and ended the first half with a 54-48 advantage.
The German champions managed to stay in front after the break and grabbed a double-digit surplus, leading 77-67 into the final quarter. The Vitoria team came back in the last 10 minutes and was in front again after an 11-0 run with around five minutes to go. As expected, that led to a dramatic finish, where Alba managed to survive two attempts from Baskonia in the last nine seconds.
“I’m very happy for my players. They deserved to be a little luckier than we had been. I’m proud of the guys, the job, and how they always stayed together in the good and the bad moments. Let’s continue improving,” head coach of Alba Israel Gonzalez stated.