By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona seemed to be in trouble for one half but dominated the second getting the 88-73 win over ALBA Berlin.
After losing on the road to Kaunas, the “Blaugrana” needed to react and got their first EuroLeague win for the season.
Dario Brizuela with 18 points was the top scorer and also the player who changed in the game in the third period.
Kevin Punter added 14 points, Jan Vesely had 10 and Chimezie Metu also had a good presence with nine points, while Tomas Satoransky had zero points on just one field goal attempt, but dished eight assists, and made a personal-high of five steals.
Martin Hermannsson with 13 points was the top scorer of ALBA which was dangerous only in the first half.
Keeping things in check
On paper, Barcelona at home should have an easy task against ALBA Berlin. That was not the case for the first 20 minutes of the game.
Despite an 8-0 start, the Catalans got a 19-16 advantage in the first period and led by six at halftime (43-37).
The Germans never had the lead or tied the score, but also never trailed with more than nine points (53-44) reacting with a 6-0 run when this happened.
However, the second half was entirely different. Dario Brizuela closed the third period with seven straight points that made the score 63-54. “At some point, they simply seem that they couldn’t miss”, said ALBA coach Israel Gonzalez.
ALBA couldn’t react after that, the point difference jumped to 16 points (71-55) and the game was over.
Photo credit: EuroLeague