Alba’s Yanni Wetzell (l.) is one of the experienced pillars of the young Berlin team in the Euroleague.
Photo: imago/camera4+
One win, one defeat. Alba Berlin leaves the first double game day in the Euroleague with this balance. After the first success in the premier class of European basketball on Tuesday against ASVEL Villeurbanne, the Berliners suffered their third defeat in the fourth Euroleague game on Thursday evening in the Uber Arena against Fenerbahce Istanbul.
If you just look at the results, Alba’s start gives little hope that things will go better on the European stage this season than last season, in which the Berliners only won five of 34 games and finished bottom of the table. The home win against Villeurbanne, who are considered outsiders like Alba in the Euroleague, was almost mandatory. In the three defeats against the reigning champion Panathinaikos Athens (77:87), in Barcelona (73:88) and against Fenerbahce (71:78), Alba has not yet managed to keep the game open until the end.
»We still make too many stupid mistakes. We foul at the wrong times and give the opponent’s best shooters free throws,” said Alba captain Martin Hermannsson, dissatisfied after the defeat against Fenerbahce. The 30-year-old Icelander was the best thrower for Berlin on Thursday together with Matteo Spagnolo. The two development players each scored 13 points. The team from Istanbul, which had a kind of home game in the opposing hall thanks to thousands of Fenerbahce fans, was clearly superior, especially from the three-man line. With 13 three-point throws, the Istanbul team converted more than twice as many as the Berlin team (6).
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“We have to learn to correct our small mistakes because the top teams move the ball very well, and then when someone is free, they punish you,” explained Alba coach Israel González after the game against Fenerbahce. In fact, Alba stuck with last season’s Final Four participant for a long time. Despite Turkey’s superiority in distance shots, Alba even came within six points in the middle of the last quarter. But the Berliners didn’t come any closer. »It was a strange game. We fought, but we were missing something to really be able to play for victory,” said top scorer Hermannsson.
It’s this last something that Alba hasn’t yet found that will enable him to sniff out a surprise against the Euroleague’s top favorites. In the opener against Panathinaikos, the Berliners were within four points in the third quarter. During the guest game in Barcelona, Alba was even able to briefly take the lead in the third quarter. The game against Fenerbahce remained close until two and a half minutes before the end, before Istanbul’s Nigel Hayes-Davis extended the lead to eleven points with a three-pointer and thus secured the preliminary decision.
Despite the significantly lower budget compared to the top European teams, the Berliners were able to keep up every time in the first four Euroleague games. Alba center Yanni Wetzell remained confident even after the Fenerbahce defeat: “We have a lot of hope. We have a very good team and were close until the end today against one of the best teams in Europe,” explained the 28-year-old New Zealander. His captain Hermannsson also sees the team on the right path: “The good thing is that we are getting better every game.”
The 84:79 win against Villeurbanne on Tuesday showed that the Berliners, who are once again relying on lots of young talent and continuity in the squad this year, are already capable of winning at the highest level. Against the experienced French team, who have five former NBA players, it was also Hermannsson who put Alba on the road to victory with a 17-point explosion in the third quarter. Afterwards, coach González was sure: “We know that if we fight, defend and rebound, then we can beat anyone.”
Alba has shown these basic virtues of basketball in every Euroleague game so far. What was often missing was the offensive punch to reward the fighting effort on defense with points of their own. With an average of 76.3 points, Alba is only in 15th place out of the 18 Euroleague offenses. Apart from Martin Hermannsson’s 21 points in Tuesday’s game, no Alba player has come close to the 20-point mark in the Euroleague.
Two reasons for Berlin’s stuttering attack are the injury problems of Matt Thomas and Gabriele Procida. Three-point specialist Thomas scored a strong ten points per game in the last Euroleague season. Procida contributed eight points and was voted the best U22 player in the Euroleague despite Alba’s disappointing performance. However, due to persistent knee problems, Thomas has not been able to play a game in the current season and recently even had to undergo surgery. Procida is back in the squad after patellar tendon surgery in April. The 22-year-old Italian is still far from his normal form.
In search of that certain something, Alba’s hopes are initially pinned on Captain Hermannsson. If playmaker talent Matteo Spagnolo and new signing Trevion Williams can confirm their good early form and the long-term injured come back, the search for more Euroleague victories could be over sooner than expected.
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