

ALBA Berlin pulled off a surprise 85-84 win over Baskonia thanks to brilliant offense in the opening three quarters and some gritty defending in the fourth when the German side scored only 8 points but held off a late rally by the visitors.
Baskonia paid the price for poor two-point shooting, having made only 13 of 33 shots from inside the arc. The visitors nailed 14 of 34 from three-point range, but it wasn’t enough as Baskonia left itself too much work to do in the final 10 minutes.
ALBA thrived from a fast-paced transition which saw the home team sink 67 percent of their shots from two-point range (25 of 37), compensating for patchy shooting behind the three-point line (8 of 28).
Crucially, ALBA thoroughly dominated the boards, having racked up 40 rebounds (31 defensive and 9 offensive) to Baskonia’s 33 (24+9), while it also dished out 26 assists to Baskonia’s 16.
That allowed the flowing offense to create plenty of open shots and layups which kept Baskonia on its back foot until the last few minutes of the game. The visitors ground ALBA’s offense to a halt in the fourth quarter but failed to capitalize. The hosts held on for an impressive win after their playmaker Maodo Lo scored the game’s final basket with 2:06 left on the clock.