With an improbable turnaround in the fourth period, Alba defeated the “suicidal” Armani 85-82 in Berlin for the fifth game of the Euroleague and got its first victory in this year’s competition.
The “albatross” started very strong and with a lot of accuracy and led 5-0 and 10-3 of the Milanese with Brown as the protagonist. A plethora of quality picks helped the Italians go on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 10-10. Then, with Lo as the protagonist and many solutions in the German basket, Armani went on an 8-0 run and finished the first quarter at 12-18.
Mirotic made it 12-20 at the start of the second period, but the Germans found solutions and, with a 5-0 run, reduced it to 17-20. Tonut’s three-pointer gave the Italian champions a breather, but with Delow’s 5-0 run, Alba went on a 7-0 run to take a 24-23 lead and the match went point-to-point. With a 6-0 run, Armani reached 26-33 and the Italians maintained +2 to +3 afterwards.
Mirotic’s 3-pointer made it 32-37, but Olinte’s same answer made it 35-37 at the end of the first half. The Germans had 10/10 shooting and bad percentages in two-pointers and three-pointers, as well as 17 rebounds, while the Italians had 5/17 three-pointers and 20 rebounds.
Armani went on a 5-0 run at the start of the third period to get to +7. Pangos’ three-pointer brought +10 and Shields’ and Mirotic’s +12 for the Italian champions. A personal 5-0 run by Tiemann cut it to 48-55 and a personal 5-0 run by Koumaji cut it to 55-57. Then, Mirotic took the situation into his own hands and, with a personal 4-0 run, brought the score to 55-61, with the third quarter ending at 57-61.
Alba trailed 59-64 at the start of the fourth quarter, but a 7-0 Armani run led by Mirotic made it +12 for Ettore Messina’s team. Alba answered with a 7-0 run of their own with several offensive options for the -5 and another 4-0 cut to 70-74. Lo and Thomas’ three-pointers kept the difference at the same level and Mirotic brought it back to 73-80 with personal actions. Alba responded with a 5-0 run for -2 and Tiemann cut it to 81-82 with a personal 4-0 at 1’06”.
With a 3-0 run, Alba led 84-82 at 24” and reached a 6-0 total run in the last minute. Shields missed a 3-pointer at 9”, Tiemann drew a foul from Pangos and hit a shot to make it 85-82 at 7”. Mirotic missed a three-pointer at 2” and Armani “suicided”.
Source: Sport Fm
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