The German clubs in the basketball Euroleague end the year very differently: while Alba Berlin finally gets a sense of achievement after a bad series, FC Bayern loses. However, his coach is not completely dissatisfied, even if little shines on the offensive.
Alba Berlin has ended its negative series in the Euroleague. The Berliners won against the French champion Asvel Villeurbanne with 91:79 (47:49). Previously, the current second in the basketball Bundesliga had suffered twelve consecutive defeats in the premier class. The Berliners remain bottom of the table internationally. The best throwers were Jaleen Smith with 21 points and Johannes Thiemann with 14 points.
This ends a cruel run for the Berliners, which had almost become a curse in the last few games, against which the capital’s basketball players seemed to work in vain. In the last two games it seemed bewitched: against AS Monaco a last-second shot decided the game, against the Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv Alba Berlin went into the last quarter with a lead – and then collapsed completely: around nine minutes was successful they didn’t get a single basket, the game was still lost despite a strong performance for a long time. The German champions turned up the heat against Asvel Villeurbanne after a weak start: 15:27 they lost the first quarter, the remaining sections all went to the Germans.
FC Bayern Munich is also stuck in the bottom of the table in the Euroleague. The penultimate team from Munich lost 77:83 (29:41) to Partizan Belgrade on Thursday evening and suffered their eleventh defeat in their 16th game. “Partizan played tough, hard, they were excellent on defense. We suffered, but we played with the only possible way to build up a game and try to win in the end,” said Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri after the last Game of the year. “We’re missing three of our best throwers, so you sometimes have to look away on offense because we didn’t shine that much. But then we fought hard, fought, closed the gap and had a chance. They were better, congratulations, we’re going onto next year to the next game.”
Othello Hunter was the guests’ most successful thrower with 16 points, while Dante Exum (19) scored best for Belgrade. Only Alba Berlin is behind Munich in the table.