With the current high load, the basketball players from Alba Berlin are looking for a balance.
“The coaches now have to make sure that they manage their strength. The trick now is to balance that out,” said manager Marco Baldi after the 84:67 home win against Brose Bamberg on Sunday. “We knew March would be really hairy,” he adds. It was already the tenth game in March for Alba.
And relief is not in sight. “Next week looks like this again, we have three games again,” Baldi complained. Because the Berliners have a Spanish week ahead of them in the Euroleague. The Berliners have to play at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (8.30 p.m.) on Tuesday, and then at FC Barcelona on Thursday (8.30 p.m./both Magentasport). “But nothing is being spared now, full pot again,” announced Baldi. Because of the strike on Monday, a charter plane was booked for the flight to the Basque Country.
It is therefore important to use the breadth of the squad to distribute the forces. But that’s not so easy, because many players are on different levels. “Some have to come back first. Then there were players who played a little less in the last few games, who played a bigger part today,” said Baldi.
National players Johannes Thiemann and Yovel Zoosman returned after an injury break against Bamberg. Especially with the latter, you saw the consequences “if you were outside for a few weeks,” says Baldi. A difficult task for coach Israel Gonzalez. In addition, there are soon signs of a comeback from long-term injured Marcus Eriksson, who was even used this season.
The flow of the game sometimes suffers as a result of these frequent constellation changes. In the first half against Bamberg it was blown away and hardly anything worked. “It’s a mental thing. It’s very difficult to go into games like this, like the games in the Euroleague during the week, when you know you’ll have a Friday after that,” said homegrown Malte Delow. With the hard game plan for him but a normality. “It’s human that sometimes you’re not completely there,” he added.
(dpa)
