Barça is stuck in the Euroleague, where it has already accumulated three defeats in the last four days, thus ruining its great start to the tournament. Especially painful was the loss this Tuesday against the bottom team, a meritorious Alba Berlin but infinitely inferior to the Blaugrana.
And Barça began with the same overwhelming way connected to the one that ended on Sunday against Baskonia, inviting us to think of a peaceful night against the bottom team that would also represent a mental and physical rest for its players in this infernal month of December. The Blaugranas scored comfortably, with Kalinic scoring a triple for the initial 0-8.
The results do not accompany the German team, which however always shows commendable resilience and remains obedient to Israel González’s slate. But when Brizuela scored the extra after a meritorious action and made the score 7-19 even in the first quarter, it was not a sin to sense a peaceful victory for Barça. Nothing is further from reality.
Before the first honk, Alba was already showing signs of life, demonstrating that its dismal balance of results does not do it complete justice, and was closing the gap. The Barça team responded to the Germans with a magnificent start to the second quarter. Vesely dominated the area undeniably and Brizuela was adding points. Óscar da Silva, an old acquaintance at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in the German capital, was also involved, more motivated than anyone else in the game. But again Alba made the rubber and got back into the game before the break with a very inspired Brown.
At times it seemed that Barça was saving a gear to use only in case it was necessary and that’s when they started to lose the game. The exit from the locker room confirmed it. With Thomas as the executing arm, the Berliners signed a 9-0 run and took the lead on the scoreboard for the first time (47-41, minute 23). There was no way to stop them.
Things became even more complicated in the last quarter for a very unbalanced Barça, who were losing the game a little more with each play. Thiemann widened the score to 70-57, minute 35) and the Blaugrana barely had the epic left. He was afraid of beating Alba, a factor that was never negligible, but it was not enough for Barça to come back. Laprovittola missed a free triple that would have meant a tie at 73 and the victory remained in Germany. Defeat is one of those that hurts.
74. ALBA Berlin (19-19-18-18): Brown (10), Spagnolo (2), Thomas (13), Wetzell (10), Thiemann (12), Koumadje (4), Procida (11), Delow (5), Mattisseck (2), Schneider (5) and Bean (0).
70. Barça (22 19 11 18): Satoransky (5), Laprovittola (15), Kalinic (8), Parker (7), Vesely (8) -starting team-, Brizuela (7), Hernangómez (7), Da Silva (6), Jokubaitis (2), Paulí (2), Parra (3) and Nnaji (0).
Referees: Gytis Vilius (LIT), Saulius Racys (LIT) and Guido Giovannetti (ITA). Eliminaron con dos faltas tecniques al visitante Satoransky (min.33 and min.40).
Incidents: matchday 15 of the Euroleague played at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin (Germany).
