Alba Berlin wins home game against Panathinaikos
Alba Berlin has won its last home game of this Euroleague season. On Wednesday evening, the Bundesliga basketball team beat Greek champions Panathinaikos Athens 87:78 (42:40) in front of 4,355 spectators. The playoffs were no longer within reach for the Berliners. For Alba it was the twelfth win in 27 games. The best Berlin throwers were Oscar da Silva with 16 points and Christ Koumadje with twelve points.
Coach Israel Gonzalez was only without long-term absentees Marcus Eriksson and Ben Lammers. Both teams make a lot of speed at the beginning. However, the Berliners are more accurate and defensively committed to work. So they were able to pull away to 28:13 in the first quarter.
Panathinaikos then woke up and now held back a lot more, especially physically. In addition, there were questionable referee decisions against the Berliners. Alba was impressed by this. The lead was down to two points just before half-time.
After the change of sides, Alba acted more concentrated again and extended the lead to 69:55 by the end of the third quarter. The Greeks didn’t give up and kept going. But the Berliners brought the lead over time.