Alba Berlin has lost the first showdown of the basketball season against big rivals Bayern Munich. The German champions were beaten 77:79 in the intense Euroleague duel in their own hall on Thursday.
Bayern’s Freddie Gillespie (right) defends against Alba’s Luke Sikma.
picture alliance/dpa
Long-time Alba captain Niels Giffey, who only switched to his big competitor at the beginning of the week, was immediately included in the Munich squad and was initially greeted with applause and only a few boos. When he got his first bet after five minutes, there were a few whistles. In the end he was on the floor for 15 minutes and scored three points. “It’s an emotional topic because it grabs you. There are strange feelings about seeing Niels in the red jersey,” admitted Alba’s assistant coach Thomas Päch before the game.
The guests from Munich were 26:15 ahead after a strong first quarter, but fell behind for the first time after the break with a 0:13 run. In the end it was enough for Bayern, who lost the Bundesliga final series against Alba last season.
Sikma: “We’re just a little tired”
“We destroyed a lot with our bad start. We were unfocused, not hard enough, didn’t accept this big game,” Luke Sikma quarreled with “MagentaSport” and admitted: “To be honest, we’re a little tired right now. You you play one game after the other, have to travel all year round. It’s draining right now.”
Best Berlin thrower in front of 8556 spectators in the arena at Ostbahnhof was Jaleen Smith with 20 points. Andreas Obst and Augustine Rubit (14 points each) scored the best for Munich.
Berlin’s coach Israel Gonzalez had to do without national players Maodo Lo and Jonas Mattisseck. In addition, Louis Olinde, who was so strong recently, was missing, who was out for four weeks with a capsule injury to his right thumb.
In the Euroleague, Munich had suffered five defeats at the start, but are now slowly gaining momentum. However, Alba still has better play-off cards with three wins from seven games.
Alba Berlin – Bayern Munich 77:79 (39:45)
Best throwers for Berlin: Smith (20), Delow (13), Sikma (12)
Best throwers for Munich: Ruby (14), Obst (14), Walden (12), Hunter (10)
Referee: Olegs Latisevs, Uros Nikolic, Alberto Baena
