s.Oliver Würzburg: A clear-cut affair

After two wins in a row for s.Oliver Würzburg, last season’s runners-up proved too big a number on Sunday afternoon: The players of Head Coach Denis Wucherer slipped well behind in the first period against ALBA BERLIN and were not able to prevent a start-to-finish victory for the EuroLeague participant. Berlin’s accuracy from beyond the arc was a key factor that made the difference: It drained ten out of its first eleven attempted threes and finished with a 3-point field goal percentage of 62, whereas the home side had little success from outside. The game’s top scorers were Cameron Wells for Würzburg and German international Niels Giffey for Berlin with 21 points apiece.

Anyone thinking beforehand that the visitors from Germany’s capital would play with less energy and imaginative zest than usual 40 hours after their EuroLeague encounter at FC Barcelona was proven wrong in the opening minutes in the sold-out s.Oliver Arena: The first two shots from downtown by Niels Giffey and Martin Hermannsson hit their mark and, after just four minutes and another three by Giffey, the ALBAtrosses had already chalked up a double-digit advantage for the first time (6:16). In particular Cameron Wells and Luke Fischer put up stiff resistance for the home side, but all in all s.Oliver Würzburg was not really able to keep pace with Berlin’s sparkling display of offensive basketball. The visitors produced a run of 12 points without reply to stretch the lead to 20 in the first period (12:32 in the 10th minute), after which new signing Victor Rudd drained a bucket from beyond the arc to record his first points in the easyCredit German Basketball League.

“We were a little shocked by the first five to seven minutes and were no longer able to recover from that. Sometimes you simply come up against opponents who don’t let you,” said Head Coach Denis Wucherer afterwards. Yet his players did have a number of chances in the first period to get back into the game with easy lay-ups: “But, of course, it’s very frustrating when you also miss them, like we did today.”

In contrast, ALBA BERLIN mercilessly took it chances time and again up to half-time – especially from outside: Ten of its first 11 attempts dropped and it made 11 out of 14 by the break (82 percent). “We committed six fouls and conceded 60 points in the first half – that shows how great our respect was and how far we kept away from the opposing player. At least we managed to commit nine team fouls in the second half,” added Wucherer.

The visitors did not give Würzburg a look-in after the break, either: Rokas Giedraitis scored Berlin’s first seven points in the third period and so kept the club from Lower Franconia at arm’s length. After ALBA BERLIN stretched the gap to 33 points (46:79 in the 26th minute), the game was as good as decided. The home side was then able to reduce the deficit on several occasions, but Berlin also always had a response to that and left no doubt that it would stroll to a clear start-to-finish victory.

Denis Wucherer’s verdict: “Sometimes you come up against an opponent who, like Berlin, is unrivaled in Germany in terms of size, athleticism and basketball IQ. At the moment, only Bayern Munich can hold a candle to the Albatrosses in the German league. We’re looking forward to our game against Bayern next Sunday and hope we can do a number of things better.”

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