ALBA BERLIN recently won three out of four games in the EuroLeague. Against Olympiacos Piraeus, where the Greek legend Vassilis Spanoulis will play his possibly last season, it was not enough in a very respectable game.
A game at eye level
After both teams play a nice first set play, ALBA with a wonderful alley-oop from Peyton Siva to Ben Lammers, not much succeeds on either side. Marcus Eriksson, for whom many moves are made, does not find his rhythm at the beginning. Piraeus, on the other hand, does a lot of pick-and-roll with Kostas Sloukas and Octavious Ellis, and more effectively (12: 9 after six minutes). But the first changes from Coach Aito are showing their effect and bringing Berlin back into the lead.
The match-up between EuroLeague veteran Vassilis Spanoulis and Berlin’s young international player Malte Delow deserves special mention, in which Delow does a very good job. “It’s a lot of fun to play against names that you used to look up to. I always try to take something with me ”, Delow draws positively from the matchup against Spanoulis. So the home team can just win the first quarter (18:16).
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In the second quarter, it is the albatrosses who start the game better and hit two three-pointers directly. Olympiacos is playing back in a very respectable game, however, and can even regain the lead in the meantime before ALBA pulls away again.
Above all, Berlin’s multi-faceted defense is a snap. Berlin produces eleven turnovers at halftime. Piraeus is similarly toxic, steals a total of seven balls and still runs after a 37:42 deficit, which the co-MVP of the last game day Peyton Siva produced from the parking lot.
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Piraeus comes out of the break better. Sasha Vezenkov in particular is running hot and has 20 points in the middle of the third quarter. The Piraeus run at the beginning ensures that a game develops on an equal footing. No team can break away with more than two points.
Catching up in the fourth quarter
The Greeks succeed in weaning in the fourth quarter. Vezenkov and point guard Kostas Sloukas play spectacularly, dissecting the Berlin defense, so that Piraeus can pull away after 35 minutes (67:77). ALBA throws everything into the balance again, comes up to 76:77. But the very strong Sasha Vezenkov is the match winner with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 6/7 from the triple line, even in crunchtime. In a threesome from the corner, after a nice pass from Spanoulis, the ball only kisses nylon. Ben Lammers brings Alba again within striking distance (80:82). The “stop-the-clock” free throws – who else – can not take Vezenkov and creates the 80:84 final score.
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