The Alba Berlin basketball players suffered their eighth defeat in a row in the Euroleague.
On Thursday evening, the Bundesliga team lost to Anadolu Efes Istanbul by a narrow margin of 84:85 (40:53), despite a good performance. The best Berlin throwers were Matt Thomas and Louis Olinde with 17 points each.
After the 26th defeat in the 31st game, Alba remains at the bottom of the table. There are still three games left to play in the main round.
Alba loses against Real Madrid despite a convincing performance
more
Hermannsson misses the throw to win
Istanbul, which is still fighting for a playoff place, started very energetically and quickly took a 16:9 lead. In Alba’s case, it was mainly Thomas who held up in the early stages. The 29-year-old scored his team’s first eleven points single-handedly. From the middle of the first quarter onwards, the Berliners got into the game better and even took a brief lead at the end of the period (23:20).
However, the Bundesliga team had more problems in the second quarter. After an 0:11 run, they were behind again and had major deficits compared to their opponents, especially under the basket. In addition, there were always gaps in the defense. The deficit remained in double digits until the break.
But Alba didn’t give up yet, came out of the locker room strong and took the lead back with a 21:4 run (61:57). Now it was an open game in which the lead changed back and forth. Two minutes before the end, the Berliners were 81:79 ahead, but like on Tuesday against Real Madrid, they gave up a possible victory. Martin Hermannsson missed the throw to win at the last second.
Broadcast: rbb24, March 21, 2024, 9:45 p.m
