Alba Berlin wins eighth game in a row

Sport is now more than ever just a side issue, and that was not only seen on Thursday evening, but also heard. In the first minute of the Euroleague duel between Alba Berlin and Zalgiris Kaunas in the arena at Ostbahnhof, both fan camps were silent and only the bouncing of the ball and the squeaking of shoes on the floor could be heard. Previously, both teams had lined up together, the guests from Lithuania held a Ukrainian flag in front of their chests, Alba wore blue jerseys and yellow shorts for the first time in the club’s history, all players presented signs with the inscription “Stop War”, the 2798 Spectators applauded.

This Friday, the Berliners are collecting relief supplies at the office in the Jahn-Sportpark and bringing them to the Polish-Ukrainian border with the team bus. Sports clubs can do much more than just organize basketball games.

But of course there was still play on Thursday – and very successfully from a Berlin point of view. Alba prevailed against Kaunas with 82:74 (24:24, 20:6, 15:20, 23:24) and thus won the eighth game in a row. The best throwers were Johannes Thiemann (17 points) and Jaleen Smith (16) as well as for Kaunas Tyler Cavanaugh (18) and Arturas Milaknis (14). “It wasn’t easy for either team to get back into the game after the minute’s silence, because the sport just takes a back seat,” said Jonas Mattisseck. “You still have to try to flip the switch and focus on basketball, at least for the 40 minutes.”

For the longtime Alba captain Niels Giffey, the return to the old homeland was mixed. The 30-year-old national player, who moved to Kaunas in the summer, was greeted with thunderous applause by the Berlin fans, but then showed a very unremarkable performance. In the end, Giffey had three points and two rebounds in just under 13 minutes.

Alba was still without the injured Marcus Eriksson, Louis Olinde and Yovel Zoosman but looked certain to win by half-time. After a balanced initial phase, this was mainly due to the second quarter. While the Lithuanians didn’t come together at all and went more than eight minutes without a shot, Alba grabbed the rebounds and put on a 13-0 run. The Berliners didn’t play perfectly and missed a few chances, but after the 20:6 in the second half of the game things looked excellent for them.

That all changed after the break, however. Zalgiris came out of the dressing room with a completely different intensity, scoring efficiently and rapidly closing the gap. After a three-pointer from the strong ex-Berliner Cavanaugh, the two teams were suddenly only separated by three points in the middle of the third period.

But when the game finally threatened to tip over, Alba caught herself again. The hosts scored the last three baskets of the quarter and it was now clear that Zalgiris had lost a lot of energy in the comeback. The Berliners controlled what was happening at the beginning of the final section and Thiemann made the decision with three three-pointers within 61 seconds.