Heart of a Champion: Alba Berlin’s Hectic Euroleague Schedule and Player Injuries

Himar Ojeda almost gets a little dizzy when he looks at the game plan. Another week with two Euroleague games and many hours on the bus and in airports awaits the basketball players from Alba Berlin. “It’s going to be another crazy week,” says the sports director. “Our young team actually needs training, but nothing more than video analysis and a bit of stretching is possible at the moment.”

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After the narrow defeat in the Bundesliga at the Würzburg Baskets (75:76), we returned to Berlin on Sunday evening. On Monday the flight to Athens was on the agenda, where a difficult opponent awaits on Tuesday (8.15 p.m., Magentasport) with Olympiacos Piraeus around long-time Alba professional Luke Sikma.

The return flight to Berlin follows on Wednesday morning, followed by the home game in the Euroleague against Valencia on Thursday evening (8 p.m.). Finally, the German champions from Ulm will be guests at the MB Arena on Sunday.

The program is ruthless and the staffing situation isn’t exactly helpful either. Slovenian playmaker Ziga Samar (foot tendonitis) and winger Louis Olinde (after-effects of a concussion) have been out for weeks and a comeback is not yet in sight.

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World champion Johannes Thiemann suffers from a muscular back injury. “It’s not too bad, but at the moment he can’t even walk without pain,” says Ojeda. Nothing more than physiotherapy has been thought of so far and the captain isn’t even traveling to Piraeus. It is not yet clear whether he can be an option again in home games.

Due to this difficult situation, the sports director does not see the defeat in Würzburg as a step backwards. “We didn’t play badly, but Würzburg were strong and we sometimes lacked the balance between shots in the zone and throws from distance,” says Ojeda. With this young team and the short breaks, it is difficult to consistently play at a high level. “We just have to accept that we can’t always be at 100 percent in a week like this.”

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Therefore, occasional defeats in the BBL are priced in. With a record of ten wins from 15 games, Alba is currently only in fifth place, but this does not cause much concern in Berlin. The form curve has gone up slightly in the last few weeks – and not just because of the return of playmaker Martin Hermannsson from Valencia. “These ups and downs are part of development,” says Ojeda. “In recent years we have almost always played our best basketball at the end of the season.”

2024-01-29 13:30:33
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