Alba Berlin against Real without points and without Siva

Berlin. All fighting spirit in the final phase was in vain: Alba Berlin almost made up a 16-point deficit in the basketball Euroleague, but in the end Real Madrid took the success and the points with them. In a game that was very exciting at the end, the 35-time Spanish champion and ten-time winner of the highest European club trophy in the Mercedes-Benz Arena won 72:63 (40:30). For Alba it was the 15th defeat in the 23rd game. The other German club Bayern Munich is on course for the play-off after their 69:66 win at CSKA Moscow.

The first bad news for the Berliners came before the game started. Point guard Peyton Siva, who has just recovered from a muscle injury in his thigh, suffered the next injury on Wednesday in the 68:71 defeat against Moscow. He twisted his ankle in the last quarter, and the bad ankle joint of his left foot is now forcing the American to take a break of several weeks. Bitter for the 30-year-old, bitter for his team. In addition, Captain Niels Giffey and Lorenz Brenneke are currently out.

Alba sporting director Himar Ojeda had said before the game that Walter Tavares was changing a game. And he was right. Without the 2.20 meter center doing anything spectacular – the Berlin shooters seemed inhibited in his presence. Ben Lammers, Johannes Thiemann, Luke Sikma: They could hardly hit once from the half-distance because the giant from Cape Verde kept appearing in front of them with his long arms. Even from a distance, hardly a throw fell into the Real basket at the beginning. “When he’s in the zone, it’s hard to pull the basket,” said Berlin winger Louis Olinde.

On the other hand, Madrid did not have such resistance to break on the offensive at the beginning. The guests used this for an intermediate sprint from 10:10 to 20:10. This lead lasted more or less until half-time. This was also due to the fact that they had clear advantages with the rebounds, the balls bouncing back from the basket after missed throws. Not only because of Tavares, but also the young Alberto Abalde courageously took it.

After the change, however, Alba also showed more determination and fought doggedly against the Final Four candidate. Threes by Sikma and Marcus Eriksson at 36:42 raised Berlin’s hopes. But Real countered immediately, especially the 20-year-old Carlos Alocen used this area to show himself. More threes from Louis Olinde and Thiemann did not prevent the third section from going to the Spaniards.

The game seemed decided when Jefferey Taylor increased for Real in the 32nd minute to 63:47 for his team. But Alba still did not give up and was actually back two and a half minutes before the end at 63:65 from Berlin’s point of view. Then Tavares came on again. “We did a great job in the second half,” said Olinde, “but then we had two annoying turnovers.” And Real Madrid cannot take such a chance.