Alba Berlin has conceded another defeat in the Euroleague. On Friday evening, the Berliners, who were short of players, lost to the Russian top team ZSKA Moscow with 72:91 (37:50) despite a decent performance.
For Alba it was the 16th defeat in the 23rd game. The best Berlin scorers were Luke Sikma with 15 and Maodo Lo with ten points.
Coach Israel Gonzalez had to do without a trio of Ben Lammers, Christ Koumadje and Marcus Eriksson, so Alba was missing two centres. And that was noticeable under the basket right from the start. ZSKA repeatedly grabbed rebounds after missed shots and thus often had more opportunities to throw the ball.
So the Russians were in the lead from the beginning. Again and again, the Bundesliga basketball team came close. But Moscow always had an answer ready and could step up when it was needed. Thus, the deficit grew again to 13 points at half-time.
After the change of ends, Alba defended better, but offensively missed too many throws – especially from the middle distance and under the basket. So the guests kept up well, but couldn’t get any closer. In the final phase, Alba became visibly more tired.
