ALBA Berlin seems to have gotten past its season-long battle with injuries and Coach Israel Gonzalez had nearly every player available in his team's 87-78 win over Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in a Round 19 makeup game on Wednesday.
Koumadje, Delow stood out on near-complete ALBA roster
Though Marcus Eriksson and Ben Lammers are still unavailable for the German champs, missing only two players was like a luxury compared to other times during the season. The depth that was developed because of all those injuries shined against Panathinaikos as Christ Koumadje scored 12 points to go with 8 rebounds and 1 block for an index rating of 18. The 25-year-old Chad big man evened his career-high in scoring and was just 3 shy of his best PIR.
Malte Delow, meanwhile, poured in 11 points, hitting both of his two-point shots, both three-point attempts and one free throw while also contributing 2 rebounds and 1 steal for a PIR of 9. The 11 points eclipsed his previous best of 9 points against FC Barcelona on March 22, 2022.
Delow has played in 30 games this season and already has 59 EuroLeague appearances under his belt even though he will only turn 21 years of age on April 22. That high number of appearances and the confidence given to him in those games when he was needed to play because of injuries has given him the ability to shine now - even with a nearly complete roster.