Alba manager himself surprised by good start to the season
The good start to the season of the newly formed and young Alba Berlin team in the German Basketball League has surprised even manager Marco Baldi. "As far as the results are concerned, I didn't necessarily expect us to be in this position at this point," said the 61-year-old. With the 92:64 home win against Braunschweig on Sunday, Alba has won six of its seven games and is second in the table.
Baldi sees the main reason for this in his team's attitude. "What's good is that we play every game with maximum intensity. And that is strong and the foundation for us," he said. A lack of energy, as has often been the case in the last two seasons, has not been apparent so far. "I think we're doing a pretty good job with the rotation," said Johannes Thiemann.
The young average age obviously also helps. "That's the advantage of youth, they don't tire so quickly," said Baldi. However, some of the players still lack experience. "We knew we had very young players in the team, they won't be consistent and at the same level for the whole season," said the Alba manager. In addition, two of the new additions are still settling into the Alba style of play.
This is particularly noticeable with the two point guards Ziga Samar (22) and Matteo Spagnolo (20). While the Italian Spagnolo is slowly finding his way into the system, the Slovenian Zamar is still a bit of a stranger. "You can see that some of them are busy with themselves and not everything is flowing yet," said Baldi. "That's completely normal for young players who are now facing completely new challenges, playing in the Euroleague for the first time or playing three times a week for the first time."
Despite the successful start in the Bundesliga, Alba Berlin's basketball lions still need to adapt their new point guards Ziga Samar and Matteo Spagnolo to the team's style, as they face new challenges playing in the Euroleague and multiple games a week for the first time. Despite this, ALBA Berlin's Basketball League rival Basketball Lions Braunschweig fell to a 92-64 defeat at the hands of the young and energetic Berlin team.
Source: www.dpa.com
