Class difference in Europe
Alba Berlin suffers the highest home defeat in club history
February 29, 2024, 9:55 p.m
Former basketball champion Alba Berlin remains bottom of the EuroLeague table. The capital club received a declassifying rebuff in the duel between the two serial losers with Maccabi Tel Aviv despite the home advantage. It was already the 22nd defeat in the competition.
The basketball players from Alba Berlin continue to lag behind the competition in the Euroleague. On Thursday evening, the Bundesliga team experienced a bitter 71:106 (38:57) debacle against Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv at home in front of 7,751 spectators. For Alba it was the 22nd defeat in the 27th game in the premier class and the highest home defeat in the club’s history. As a result, coach Israel Gonzalez’s team was unable to hand over the red lantern to the French representative ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne for one night.
In the first game after the big disappointment at the Cup Final Four, the Bundesliga club looked like they could make amends in the first few minutes. They quickly took a 7:4 lead, but the flow of the game ended just as quickly. Alba now found it more difficult to defend against the guests, often trying from a distance, but scoring too rarely. After an 0:11 run, the game was over in the first quarter. Now Alba was chasing a deficit that continued to grow. After around 16 minutes the score was already 26 points (23:49). The Berliners made too many mistakes, which Maccabi immediately punished with quick attacks. At times it was a class difference.
That didn’t change even after the break. The hosts tried hard, but were still inferior in all areas. By the middle of the third quarter the deficit had grown to 34 points (44:78). And the Berliners had no chance until the end. The best Berlin throwers were Johannes Thiemann with 14 and Sterling Brown with eleven points. For Tel Aviv, which was able to improve its play-off prospects after three defeats, five players scored at least ten points. Cup winners Bayern Munich will be challenged in the fight for their play-off chances on Friday (8:30 p.m.). The second team in the European premier class from Germany will then meet the Serbian representative Red Star Belgrade.