Die Albatrosse haben am Freitagabend in Kaunas ihren dritten Sieg in der EuroLeague-Hauptrunde eingefahren. In der Crunchtime eines intensiven Fights behielt das ALBA-Team die Nerven und besiegte das damit weiterhin erfolglose Žalgiris 79:71. Dabei stand ALBA-Headcoach Israel González endlich und zum ersten Mal in dieser Saison der komplette Kader zur Verfügung. Ben Lammers hatte als letzter Verletzter grünes Licht für einen Einsatz erhalten und machte mit 10 Punkte, 4 Rebounds und 3 Blocks gleich ein gutes Spiel.
Für Freude bei allen ALBA-Fans sorgte sicher auch das Wiedersehen mit Niels Giffey und Tyler Cavanaugh, die beide in dieser Spielzeit für den litauischen Serienmeister aktiv sind. US-Power-Forward Cavanaugh war mit 17 Punkten und 6 Rebounds bester Mann bei Žalgiris. Giffey kam auf 5 Punkte, 4 Rebounds und 2 Steals.
Best of ALBA: Sikma 10pt 6rb 4as 3st 1blk / Eriksson 16pt 4rb 1as / da Silva 16pt 3rb / Lammers 10pt 4rb 3blk 1as / Lô 9pt 6as 1rb 1st / Blatt 6pt 6as 2rb / komplette Statistik
Jure Zdovc (Cheftrainer Kaunas): “You can see how modern teams should look. They’re too good for us, too quick. Even when we defend they jump on us, they make offensive rebounds, they score from the second action every time, this is killing us. We were too naïve, too slow. Congratulations to ALBA, they deserved to win.”
Israel González: “I’m very happy with the team. In the second half we controlled the rebounds in defense and offense and this is very good for us to have second opportunities on our offense. I’m happy with what we’ve done today, let’s continue like this. I’m very happy they [Ben Lammers and Marcus Eriksson] are coming back but we know they’re not in perfect shape so we need to use games and practise to get in shape. We have to give them confidence.”
Luke Sikma: “We did a way better job defensive rebounding. We were able to neutralise Nebo a little – he’s an animal on the glass so I think it was a good team effort. Guys made big plays, big shots, they made a run but we didn’t hang our heads. We kept pushing and it’s a really good win on the road. We’ve got a deep roster with a lot of guys and everyone has confidence they’re going to step out there and play great. It gives you a lot of confidence knowing you’ve got guys behind you who will back you up. I’m really happy, everyone played well tonight.”
Marcus Eriksson: “It’s really good to be able to come back with a win. We knew it would be tough here. They’ve started the season not so good so we knew they’d be well prepared with their fans who are very supportive, so we’re very happy with the win.”