By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Crvena Zvezda mts has been on a losing streak against ALBA Berlin for the past seven years in Euroleague and they’ve suffered a new defeat with 74-70 on the scoreboard.
The German side won the last seven games against Zvezda while the latter won only their first duel back in 2015. Alba improved to 10-14 in the standings while Zvezda now holds an 11-14 record, with both teams trailing behind the eighth-placed AS Monaco (13-13).
Luke Sikma is aware of the playoff picture but advises to just play one game at a time.
“From the outside looking in, everyone wants to talk about the playoffs. But I tell the guys all the time, the most important is to just go 1-0. All you can worry about is the next game, especially with how many games we play. If you start looking too far ahead, it will cause some problems. I’m glad we went 1-0 tonight.”
Maodo Lo led the scorers of the winning team with game-high 22 points while Jaleen Smith scored 17 and Luke Sikma 13 points. Sikma also grabbed nine rebounds.
“I am happy we were able to get a win today against a great team, a tough team that is in a great rhythm. We grinded it out also. We had offensive tips, big plays that we made, which was able to gave us the win today. So I am very happy,” Lo said.
For Zvezda, Nate Wolters logged 18 followed by Nikola Kalinic with 13 and Ognjen Dobric with 12 points.
Zvezda was trailing most of the game including the majority of the fourth quarter but stayed close and had a chance to turn things around. However, a couple of offensive rebounds under the two-minute mark by Malte Delow and Ben Lammers – who followed it up with points – sent Alba to 72-67 and the win.
The losing team’s coach Dejan Radonjic also pointed to the boards as crucial. “During the game, we had problems with their offensive rebounds and in the end they scored the most important points after that.”