2020-21Regular SeasonRound 26
February 26, 2021 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA

ALBA rallies to down Panathinaikos

ALBA Berlin rediscovered its shooting touch in the second half en route to 74-65 win over visiting Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on Friday night in the German capital. The victory improved ALBA's record to 9-17 while Panathinaikos dropped to 9-15, but both teams are facing severely uphill climbs to challenge for the playoffs. Panathinaikos spent most of the first three quarters with leads as high as 10 points, but Johannes Thiemann scored 14 consecutive points to open the fourth, including 4 straight triples, to tilt the game ALBA's way. Thiemann finished with a career-high 16 points in 18 minutes. Marcus Eriksson netted 12 points and Maodo Lo had 11 points and 7 assists for ALBA. Aaron White was the only Panathinaikos scorer in double digits, with 14 points, while Konstantinos Mitoglou collected 9 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in a losing effort.

Lo hit a jumper but that was the only ALBA basket in the first 6 minutes. The visitors forced 5 turnovers, while Howard Sant-Roos scored a pair of close-range baskets before a put-back layup from White made it 2-10. Simone Fontecchio got ALBA going with a transition triple and a fastbreak dunk, sparking a 9-0 run to give the hosts the lead. But the Greens quickly stopped the bleeding, making a 0-7 run for the rest of the quarter, capped with an alley-oop connection between Shelvin Mack and Georgios Papagiannis. A dunk from Ben Bentil, a tip-in from White and a jumper from Mitoglou helped open 15-25 gap in the second quarter. Lo took it to the rim and Luke Sikma scored twice in the low post, but a triple from Nikos Diplaros, in his first EuroLeague game, helped keep the margin at 23-34 at halftime.

Lo opened the second half with a three-pointer, but Sant-Roos, Ioannis Papapetrou and White hit back-to-back-to-back from downtown to make it 35-43. Fontecchio and Niels Giffey replied with their own in a 10-0 run, getting ALBA back in front, 45-43, midway through the third quarter. Mack and Eriksson traded triples, then Mack added another one of his own to give the Greens 50-53 after 30 minutes. Thiemann caught fire at the start of the fourth quarter, burying 4 consecutive triples to open a 62-55 ALBA lead. Sikma's back-door dish for Lo's layup and a triple from Siva made it 70-59 with 2:30 to go. The hosts extended the margin to 13 points, before White hit a triple on the other end, but too little too late for the Greens as ALBA closed it out.

Key contributor

Johannes Thiemann scored 14 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to top his previous career-high of 15 points. It was also the first time the ALBA big man hit 4 three-pointers in a EuroLeague game.

Finding range

Both teams came out firing in the third quarter after shooting futility in the first half. ALBA shot 2-for-15 from downtown and Panathinaikos 1-for-9 from three in the first half, but then combined to make 9-of-18 in the third quarter. Led by Thiemann, ALBA proceeded to make 6-for-11 in the fourth to pull away.

Giffey returns

Niels Giffey returned to action in this game for the first time since Round 17. He contributed with 5 points and 2 rebounds in less than 7 minutes.

Debut for Diplaros

Panathinaikos guard Nikos Diplaros made his debut, entering the game in the second quarter, and needing about 43 seconds to hit a triple. However, that turned out to be his only basket in 8:35 on the floor.

What's next

Next week both teams will be on a double duty, which starts with Round 27 on Tuesday when ALBA visits Zenit St Petersburg, while Panathinaikos hosts FC Barcelona later that night.

Ben Lammers - ALBA Berlin - EB20
Friday, February 26, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB; HALLIKO, AARE
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin11172224
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens17171912
End of Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin11285074
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens17345365
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 LO, MAODO 30:48 11 4/6 1/7     2 2 7   2   3 1 4 10
3 SIVA, PEYTON 15:19 6 0/2 1/5 3/3   2 2 2 1 4     1 3 3
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 6:43 5 1/3 1/2   2   2         1     3
6 DELOW, MALTE 3:11   0/1                   1 1   -3
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 29:53 12 2/2 2/7 2/2 1 2 3 1 1 1       1 12
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 12:38   0/1 0/3     2 2 1 1 1     2   -3
10 SCHNEIDER, TIM 8:34 4 2/3 0/1     1 1               3
16 NIKIC, KRESIMIR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 FONTECCHIO, SIMONE 24:51 8 1/2 2/6   2 3 5 4 1 2   1 1 2 11
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 17:49 16 1/1 4/5 2/2 1 1 2     1     2 4 18
43 SIKMA, LUKE 26:37 6 2/3   2/2 1 5 6 2 1 2   1 3 5 13
50 LAMMERS, BEN 23:37 6 3/5     1 3 4 1     1   4   6
Team           3 2 5     2         3
Totals 200:00 74 16/29 11/36 9/9 11 23 34 18 5 15 1 7 15 19 76
        55.2% 30.6% 100%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 MACK, SHELVIN 13:38 7   2/3 1/2   1 1 3   2     1 1 7
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 16:03 8 4/4                         8
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS 18:25   0/1 0/2     1 1 4   2     2 1 -1
8 AUGUSTE, ZACH 10:50 2     2/4 1 1 2 1   2 1   2 3 3
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 26:23 7 1/4 1/3 2/2       3   5     3 4 1
12 DIPLAROS, NIKOS 8:35 3   1/2     1 1 1   2     3   -1
15 VOUGIOUKAS, IAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
16 KALAITZAKIS, GEORGIOS 4:39 2     2/2         1       2 1 2
30 WHITE, AARON 28:23 14 4/6 2/6   3 5 8   2 1 2   3 1 17
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 25:27 9 4/9 0/2 1/2 2 7 9     2 3   2 1 10
50 BENTIL, BEN 19:36 6 2/5   2/2 1 2 3 2 3   1   1 1 12
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 28:01 7 2/3 1/5     4 4 5 3 2   1   2 13
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 65 17/32 7/23 10/14 9 23 32 19 9 18 7 1 19 15 74
        53.1% 30.4% 71.4%
Head coach: KATTASH, ODED

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
“In the beginning, we were running and shooting and missing passes. We were playing without focus. In the second half, we focused, we played defense well. Also, little by little, we took advantage in the game, and I am happy we won because we began the game really bad.”
KATTASH, ODED
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
“In the first half, we did a good job defensively, but we were struggling offensively. In the second half, we struggled on both sides of the floor. We were not concentrated, we were not aggressive. Ok, we can understand some of the players because of what happened with COVID-19, but it’s all about attitude. Even with that, we could have played better. Especially in the second half. We played like we had excuses. We can always find excuses, especially with what happened to us in the last two, three weeks. Even though some players were tired, not always in a good rhythm – we could not find our rhythm offensively – we didn’t share the ball as we used to. But it is all about attitude. If you come to the game and think about excuses, that’s what happens. It is really a bad performance from us, and that is disappointing.”

Players

THIEMANN, JOHANNES
ALBA Berlin
“I think I just had some open looks at the end of shot clock, which I had to take, and luckily, I made them. I think we had a lot more energy in the second half. We started the game slow and had a lot of stupid mistakes, but we cut that in the second half and had more energy.”
ERIKSSON, MARCUS
ALBA Berlin
“It is very important for our confidence. We lost some close games that maybe we could have closed out. But it was a new game today and we are happy we got the win. We started the game with little bit less energy and we didn't find rhythm on offense, but we just kept grinding. Obviously, in the fourth quarter JT (Johannes Thiemann) hit four, five shots in a row. That gave us a lot of energy and we just built from that.”
WHITE, AARON
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"We received a lot of three-point shots. They got a lot more offensive rebounds in the second half of the game. All this was key, because we did not continue the pressing defense of the first part. After the game against Olympiacos, for three weeks we did not have a game because of the COVID-19 cases. We lost some training sessions. This is cannot be an excuse. We had to face the game with the conditions that existed.”
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