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Alba already thinking about Barca

Alba are opening Euroleague's Top 16 on Friday, so today's meeting against MBC is not very convenient, especially if McLean really won't be able to help. The away team were never victorious in the capital. They're in a five-defeat streak, but they're still in game for the BBL Cup

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German basketball players are active even on the last day of 2014. Alba played on New Year's Eve last year, too. Then they easily defeated Hagen. Today's match against Mitteldeutscher has come in a bit of a bad moment because on Friday they're playing against Barcelona as part of Euroleague's Top 16, so it's a little strange they didn't play yesterday as most of the Bundesliga teams.

Alba ended their invincible streak in the last round of the home championship. Their first defeat, after 14 wins, was in Bamberg. When a club who, on average, score 70 points manage to drown them in almost a 100, you know something's not right. Alba were catastrophic, they conceded 34 points in the first half, and managed to come to their senses a bit in the second quarter, but in the second half-time they conceded another 50. The final 29-point difference tells you how bad they were.

- We didn't manage to find our rhythm of the match, and our defense was very weak. Brose were better in every position. We don't have as much talent as Brose, but we didn't show our main feature, and that's grit - admitted coach Sasa Obradovic.

They allowed Brose a 71.9% shots for two-pointers, 62.1% in game, 13/26 for three-pointers. The only ones who were good were Radosevic (18 points), Redding (10 points and five assists) and Banic (10 points). Obradovic put Banic on number five, and later on number four because Jamel McLean wasn't himself. McLean could also miss today's match because of a stomach ache. Obradovic probably won't force him before Bracelona, despite the lack of players on high positions. Bottermann has also been out since earlier.

Alba so far played 18 times against Mitteldeutscher and lost only two matches. In Berlin MBC still doesn't know for victory. Alba wasn't defeated at home this season in Bundesleague in seven matches. When you look at the statistics, it's clear why they're so successful. They score 91 points o average at home, and concede only 71. Their total shot percentage is 51.4; on average they achieve more rebounds than MBC, but they also have more turnovers.

Mittledeutscher entered the championship with a 7-2 record, but after that they were defeated five times in a row and thus ruined their chances to play in the Final Four Cup qualifications. The fight for the BBL Cup will be going on for the next two rounds of the first part of the championship against Bareuth and Artland for the last spot that leads to the qualifications. MBC's goal is to finish the half-season with the at least same ratio as the aforementioned clubs because in that case they will make their plan come true.

It's very hard to outplay MBC this season, they're a tough team, but their minus is that they played one of the worst matches during the weekend. Everything was tied with Ludwigsburg until half-time, but in the third quarter they lost it all with 9-23, and there was no coming back.

MBC weren't that bad in the defense, but their offense was terrible. Wing player Serapinas was the exception, but some key names like Richard and Standhardinger completely failed.

- We've come down to a 7-7 record which means we're on zero now. We played against Bayern in the first round, and now we're playing against Alba... Our goal is to primarily focus on our game, strengthen our defense, make our rebound better, pay attention to the ball in the offense, and then we'll see how all of that will reflect on the score - said coach Silvano Poropat, and answered the question whether his team is tired because they will play three matches eight days apart:

- That's not an issue. The boys are feeling very good and we can rotate them. Playing in Berlin is not only a big challenge, but also a great experience.