Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade suffered a defeat against ALBA Berlin despite playing in their well-known and loud home court of the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
19
|
| Maodo Lo | |
| Points | 17 |
| Accuracy | 6-8 |
| Rebounds | 1 |
| Assists | 2 |
The tight lead of the guests kept rising from the end of the first quarter in spite of both offensive and defensive initiatives from the Red and Whites. This could have been Zvezda's opportunity to reach a 3-2 score in the first five rounds of the Euroleague.
After the match, coach Dejan Radonjic admitted that the slow start created the problems, and his team couldn't find the solutions as the game went on.
"I had emphasised that we needed to be focused. Unfortunately, we opened the match with additional problems, which only further challenged our situation, Radonjic said after the game. "Generally, ALBA was able to build their result well from the very start. We simply had mistakes in both directions."
"We were unable to improve our rhythm and get ourselves into a better situation. Naturally, there are no easy matches in the Euroleague", added the head coach.
Later on, the Montenegrin expert spoke about the EuroLeague pace.
"The games are all excellent, uncertain, and offer many surprises. For us, the factor that increases the difficulty is the rhythm that doesn't allow us to do everything we need. We will require time," Radonjic said.
Radonjic also praised the fans and thanked them for all their support.
"It's clear what playing in Pionir means, and I thank the fans for supporting us. Unfortunately, they were unable to give us enough impulse to come out stronger and perhaps better than we were at this time."
Radonjic then spoke of the guests, saying that they were a beatable opponent. He also explained that his team made too many mistakes.
"ALBA has sufficient experience, talent and time spent together, and it was a while since we beat them here. We tried the best that we could. It was necessary to create a balance between recovery and planning new tactics... All of that in only three training sessions. It was fairly clear how that could lead to situations like this one."
"We had hoped we would be able to beat them. But these are things you can't possibly predict. No one can say there was no desire to win, but there were too many mistakes, which are punished at this level. When it comes to the offense, there is plenty to analyse," concluded coach Radonjic.
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