Basketball – lessons in Europe for Alba’s basketball players

At least a look at the numbers gives hope: 17, 9 and 4. The point differences with which Alba’s basketball players lost their first three Eurocup games show a clear trend. After a clear opening defeat two weeks ago in the Alba women’s first ever European Cup game, against VBW Gdynia (44:61), the second game against the Israeli champions from Elitzur Ramla was even closer (59:68). In the third game on Thursday evening against Kibirkštis Vilnius, Alba even got a sniff of their historic first European success seconds before the final siren. But in the end, Lithuania’s series champions won 53:57.

Despite the positive development, it is also true that Alba’s basketball players have had weak phases in all three Eurocup games so far, which ultimately sealed their defeats. On Thursday against Vilnius the start failed. Seven and a half of ten minutes had already passed in the first quarter when Emily Kiser finally scored the first points after a strong pass from Alba captain Lena Gohlisch. Above all, the size of the Vilnius players caused problems for the Berlin women. At the beginning there was no way through in the zone against Vilnius’ 1.92 meter tall captain Giedrė Labuckienė and center player Daugilė Ūsė (1.96 m). Because Alba’s throws from distance didn’t fall, the score was 4:13 for Vilnius after the first quarter.

»It took us too long to get into the game. Our game was also changed a lot by their two great players. As a result, we didn’t have any easy chances close to the basket,” explained Alba support player Henriette Hofermann after the defeat. The different physicality in the Eurocup has been the dominant theme for the Berlin women so far. With Gdynia’s Ruthy Hebard (1.92 m), Ramla’s Bojana Kovačević (1.91 m) and Vilnius center Ūsė, there have always been opponents on the floor who were not only taller than Alba’s center Maggie Mulligan (1.90 m) and Emily Kiser (1.88 m), but also physically stronger.

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»This is definitely a learning experience for us. It’s a different level of physicality, speed and talent,” said the 29-year-old Mulligan, summarizing the first three Eurocup home games, in which Alba always got fewer rebounds than the opposing team. Too often the ball ended up with the opponents after missed throws. Daugilė Ūsė got 17 rebounds on Thursday. And this immediately leads to the next problem: Because Alba needs more players under its own basket in order not to be completely lost in the fight for rebounds, the Berlin women have so far only very rarely managed to switch quickly to the attack – actually an integral part of Alba’s game plan.

According to coach Cristo Cabrera, his team still lacks balance in the Eurocup: “We try to adapt to the physicality of the other teams, but don’t want to lose our own identity in the process. We haven’t found the right path for ourselves yet.” Without quick attacks, the Alba offensive against the physically strong and well-organized Eurocup opponents has stalled in every game so far.

On the other hand, Berlin’s zone defense continues to work well. In the first game against Gdynia, Alba threw her opponents off their game after half-time, and on Thursday against Vilnius the switch from man-marking to spatial defense also had an effect. After the third quarter, the champions from Lithuania were still in the lead by 17 points. But Alba worked her way back with an energetic performance in the final section. With 24 seconds left, Vilnius was only two points ahead at 53:55. But at first Alba failed to steal the ball from her opponents and then the tactical foul came much too late.

Alba coach Cabrera took responsibility for the mistake after the game. In any case, the Spaniard preferred to emphasize the strong morale of his team: “Even if things don’t go the way we want in the game, we fight our way in and still do our best.” In the Eurocup, despite Alba’s comeback qualities, it is likely -Women are already getting tight after three defeats. Only the four best third-place teams from the twelve groups of four will make it to the Eurocup playoffs in addition to the first and second-placed teams. Alba is currently in fourth place in Group H. Henriette Hofermann still wants to keep fighting: “We are already defeated, but it is not the end of the world. We still have three games left and we can still show that we can play at this level.

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