May 21, 2013
Regular Season Game 8 - December 18, 2008 CET: 20:00 Local time: 20:00 - O2 WORLD
Alba Berlin 68 - 73 Tau Ceramica

Records

Ave.   Ave.
0-0 Final Four 0-0
0-0 Playoffs 0-0
0-0 Top 16 0-0
3-4 Regular Season 5-2
3-4 Overall 5-2

Referees

Crew Chief
LAMONICA, LUIGI, Italy
Referee
LOVSIN, ANDREJ, Slovenia
Umpire
SAHIN, TOLGA, Italy

Team Stats

Ave.   Ave.
69.3 Points 92.7
29.7 Rebounds 31.7
8.9 O. Rebounds 9.4
20.9 D. Rebounds 22.3
10.3 Assists 14.6
7.0 Steals 8.9
1.6 Blocks 3.4
13.4 Turnovers 12.7
51.1 % 2PT 61.2 %
34.2 % 3PT 42.3 %
66.0 % FT 76.5 %
69.4 Index 103.9
Team Stats - Alba Berlin
Team Stats - Tau Ceramica

Player Stats

Ave.   Ave.
12.3 / McELROY, IMMANUEL Points 18.0 / Rakocevic
5.3 / SESAY, ANSU Rebounds 4.9 / MCDONALD, WILL
2.3 / McELROY, IMMANUEL OR 2.3 / MCDONALD, WILL
4.0 / SESAY, ANSU DR 3.5 / SPLITTER, TIAGO
2.0 / McELROY, IMMANUEL Assists 4.3 / PRIGIONI, PABLO
1.6 / Jacobsen Steals 2.4 / PRIGIONI, PABLO
0.4 / SESAY, ANSU Blocks 1.4 / MCDONALD, WILL
2.1 / McELROY, IMMANUEL Turnovers 2.3 / Rakocevic
60.0 % / HAMANN, STEFFEN 2PT 100.0 % / PRIGIONI, PABLO
100.0 % / CHUBB, ADAM 3PT 60.0 % / Vidal
85.0 % / CHUBB, ADAM FT 100.0 % / Rakocevic
13.1 / McELROY, IMMANUEL Index 18.6 / Rakocevic
Team Roster - Alba Berlin
Team Roster - Tau Ceramica

THE TAKE

A pivotal game in Group C is set to take place at the state-of-the-art O2 Arena in Berlin, Germany, where Alba hosts Tau Ceramica on Thursday at 20:00 CET. Alba ties with Fenerbahce Ulker for fourth place at 3-4 but is unbeaten at home. Meanwhile, Tau ties for first place at 5-2 and may clinch a Top 16 berth if it wins on Thursday. Alba is facing severe injury problems, especially on its frontcourt. Aleksandar Nadjfeji was hit in the left calf in a German League game and is questionable. Meanwhile, Patrick Femerling missed Sunday’s German League contest due to a knee injury and is also questionable for Thursday. Even when Adam Chubb also missed the game with a stomach virus, he is expected to face Tau and All-Euroleague center Tiago Splitter. Ansu Sesay is set to test his shooting skills against three-point threat Mirza Teletovic. If Femerling and Nadjfeji are sidelined, expect Dragan Dojcin to see extended playing time against Will McDonald of Tau Ceramica. There are also some good news for Alba, as scoring ace Julius Jenkins is expected to play against Tau. He is ready to share his team's scoring skills along with former Tau shooter Casey Jacobsen and do-it-all, intense forward Immanuel McElroy. Jenkins will have a high-profile matchup against Igor Rakocevic, currently the Euroleague's top scorer. Jacobsen will face a player that knows him well like Sergi Vidal, while McElroy has a key matchup against Pete Mickeal. Johannes Herber of Alba and Fernando San Emeterio of Tau may play an important role off the bench. The point guard battle will be interesting, as Alba must stop Tau's pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop game by slowing Pablo Prigioni. Steffen Hamann seems the right man for that job due to his intensity and defensive skills. Meanwhile, Rashad Wright will complement Hamann off the bench, while Prigioni will get some valuable help from Mustafa Shakur. Alba must get McElroy involved and expect a big game from Jacobsen and Jenkins. Meanwhile, Tau must get its frontcourt involved, as Rakocevic can be even more dangerous if Alba double-teams in the low post.

GAME QUOTES

Alba Berlin
  • Alba Berlin is undefeated at home this season at the O2 World, host of the 2009 Euroleague Basketball Final Four. Alba is 3-0 in the Euroleague and 5-0 in the German League.
  • Casey Jacobson made his European debut with Tau Ceramica in the 2005-06 season. He helped the club reach the Euroleague Final Four that season and win the Spanish King’s Cup. Only three players on Tau’s current roster – center Tiago Splitter, guard Pablo Prigioni and forward Sergi Vidal – were teammates of Jacobson that season.
Tau Ceramica
  • Tau Ceramica leads the Euroleague in scoring this season and boasts three of the top 10 scorers in the league. Head coach Dusko Ivanovic’s club is averaging 92.7 points per game. Guard Igor Rakocevic leads the league with 18 points per game, center Tiago Splitter is eighth at 14.8 points and forward Mirza Teletovic is 10th with 14.6 per game. Splitter leads the league in points scored per minute played with 0.72 points per minute. Rakocevic is second at 0.71.
  • Rakocevic has made at least 1 three-pointer in 12 consecutive Euroleague games. He has not missed a free throw this season in 31 attempts – the best run in the league. And Rakocevic needs just 1 more steal to reach 100 for his Euroleague Basketball career.
  • Teletovic has made at least 1 three-pointer in 11 consecutive Euroleague games.
  • Guard Pablo Prigioni has at least 1 steal in each of his last nine Euroleague appearances, but his streak of eight games in a row with at least 1 three-pointer came to an end when he did not attempt a shot last week. Prigioni’s first career 9-assist game came against Alba Berlin in January 2004. Tau won that game 94-81.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Euroleague.net

Quotes Head Coaches

PAVICEVIC, LUKA
Alba Berlin
"Due to injuries and infections we are facing some problems with our player personnel in the last few days. We are not very fortunate to have these difficulties against one of the best teams in Europe, but we have to deal with these problems the best possible way. I think, against such high-quality opponents certain requirements have to be fulfilled, which depend not on which players are available, but on how we as a team react to certain situations. We have to focus on these team situations right now and then wait for the information as to which players are ready to play on Thursday. I hope we come up with good energy to bring our fans with us and to come up with a competitive game."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Tau Ceramica
"It's tough to win in their home court. Lottomatica Roma, DKV Joventut and Fenerbahce Ulker all lost there already. Alba Berlin is a totally different team when they play at home. Their arena is usually packed and their fans put a lot of pressure on the visiting team to intimidate. So, we must be ready to overcome that. It's a key game for them because they need to explot their chances to make it to the Top 16. They play much more aggressive than they play on the road, they are fast in transitions, and very active in rebounding. We will need to play hard defense if we want to win there, we know it's going to be tough."

Players

HAMANN, STEFFEN
Alba Berlin
"We already learned from experience that Tau is the best team in our group and we definitely know what is coming towards us. But we are warned now and are aware what has to be done to maybe even beat them in our home. We must take better care of the ball than we did in Vitoria, because they need our turnovers to establish their fast-break game. They are ready to punish even the smallest mistakes."
TELETOVIC, MIRZA
Tau Ceramica
"We travel to Berlin aiming to keep the good streak we got lately going. We need the win because we want to finish in the first place of our group. We all expect a different game in their home court, they will play harder and for sure the game won't be easy. We improved our defense in the last games and I think it should be one of the keys of the game. They play in front of their fans and that will give them an extra boost, for sure. So we have to be ready and aware."
Igor Rakocevic - Tau CeramicaTau Ceramica finished strong to remain atop of Group C with a tough 68-73 victory at Alba Berlin. Tau used a 8-2 final spurt to hand Berlin its first loss at the o2 World arena – the site of the 2009 Euroleague Basketball Final Four – and improve to 6-2, despite being held well below its league-best 92.7 points per game. Tau jumped ahead 3-10, but Berlin answered with an 11-2 run and the game was tight the rest of the way. Tau grabbed a bit of an advantage in the third quarter, holding Berlin to just 11 points. Berlin came back in the fourth period and grabbed the lead with just three minutes to play. But Tau finished the game better to collect the road victory. Igor Rakocevic led Tau with 24 points and Tiago Splitter had 15 points and 8 rebounds. Pete Mickael added 14 points and Mirza Teletovic chipped in 13. Berlin was paced by 17 points from Rashad Wright, while Immanuel McElroy had 11 points and Aleksandar Nadjfeji and Steffen Hamann both added 10 points for Berlin, which dropped to 3-5 and faces an uphill battle to reach the Top 16.

Tau’s Pablo Prigioni hit a three-pointer after a fine pass out to the corner from Rakocevic to start the game. But Hamann answered right back to even the game early. On the next trip, Rakocevic drained a three and Tau retained possession on a Berlin foul. Splitter then made 2 foul shots to make it 3-8 and then on the next possession the big man hit a reverse layup and the lead grew to 3-10. Hamann came back down for a driving layup and made 2 foul shots as the hosts trimmed the margin to 7-10. Adam Chubb hit a fine basket to make it a 1-point game only to see Mickeal answer with a driving lay-up for a 9-12 lead. McElroy’s lay-in made it a 1-point game and then Casey Jacobsen hit a three from the left wing after a Will McDonald turnover to put Berlin ahead 14-12, completing an 11-2 run. McDonald knotted things with 2 foul shots and then collected Mickael’s pass and laid it in for a 14-16 advantage. Rakocevic was fed by Prigioni and converted the layup and three-point play for a 14-19 advantage. Nadjfeji and Rakocevic swapped foul shots before Ansu Sesay finally scored his first points from the foul line to make it 18-21. Splitter missed from right at the rim but got his own rebound and then passed out to Teletovic, who drained the triple for an 18-24 advantage. Nadjfeji answered with a lay-in and then Wright hit a pull-up jumper just before the buzzer to bring Alba within 22-24 after one period.

Immanuel McElroy - Alba BerlinNadjfeji hit a contested jumper in the lane to even things at 24-24 to start the second quarter. Mickael and Nadjfeji both hit baskets off the glass and then each scored another basket before Teletovic converted in the paint for a 28-30 lead. Mickael then swiped the ball from Jacobsen and slammed home on the break for a four-point advantage. Hamann cut it to 31-32 with a triple, but Teletovic drained his own long ball and it was back to 31-35. Adam Chubb and McElory combined for three foul shots and the margin was down to 34-35. Sergi Vidal grabbed a steal but missed the break-away layup and Chubb hit in the lane to give Berlin a 36-35 advantage. But Teletovic drained another triple and then Rakocevic hit a reverse lay-up from the right side and Berlin boss Luka Pavicevic called a timeout with Tau leading 36-40. Jacobsen came out of the timeout with a three-ball from the side. But he missed another long ball attempt and Rakocevic streaked back for a break away layup for a 39-42 lead. McElroy then went coast-to-coast for a layup after a Tau miss, but Splitter answered the next time down with a thunderous dunk in the paint for a 41-44 cushion at halftime.

McElroy opened the second half with a break-away lay-up after a Priginoi turnover. Rakocevic used a pick to get room on the right wing for a triple to make it 43-47. Sesay threw down a left-handed dunk after a defensive breakdown by Tau, which saw Mickael knock down a hook and then Splitter hit inside and picked up the foul, unable to complete the three-point play with the guests leading 45-51. Rakocevic beat his man into the paint and then dished to Splitter who hit again in the paint and was fouled – again missing the chance for a three-point play and it was 45-53. Berlin struggled offensively until Jacobsen knocked down a triple from the left corner to cut it to 48-53. Splitter returned to the foul line and made both and the lead was back to 7 points until Wright’s jumper after a crossover dribble. And 2 Wright free throws brought Berlin back to 52-55 only to see Mickael hit two foul shots for a 52-57 advantage. Both teams struggled offensively the next few minutes. Rakocevic made two free throws to make it 52-59 and that was the score after three quarters as Sesay missed from less than a foot away.

Tiago Splitter - Tau CeramicaWright hit the first basket of the fourth with a break away layup after a steal at the top of key but Rakocevic knocked down a tough jumper and it was 54-61. Wright again grabbed a steal and went all the way for a lay-up for the hosts. Wright swiped yet another ball and was fouled and Tau called a timeout. Sesay missed a wide-open triple and Rakocevic hit the baseline jumper for a 56-63 lead. Alba turned over the ball and Teletovic pushed back for a break-away layup as the lead grew back to 9 points, resulting in a Berlin timeout. But Berlin mounted a come-back. Wright hit a fall-away jumper and then knocked down a triple from the left wing and the lead was down to 61-65 with five minutes left. Splitter missed a tough lay-up and Wright passed out to McElroy, who drained a triple from the right wing to bring Berlin to within 64-65 with four minutes to play. Splitter missed another layup and Sesay gave Berlin the lead with a tough lay-up 66-65. But that proved to be the end of the Berlin run. Tau drew three quick fouls and then Rakocevic went to the line for three foul shots and hit all three for a 66-68 lead with less than two minutes to play. Wright turned the ball over and Splitter hits a tough lay-in in the paint and converted the three-point play for a 66-71 advantage. Sesay stumbled in the lane and turned over the ball, but Rakocevic could not seal the game with a three-pointer. Wright was fouled hard and hit 2 foul shots to make it 68-71. But Mickael pushed it back to 5 points on a tough turn-around jumper with 29 seconds left. Wright missed from downtown for Berlin and Tau closed out the game.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI (ITA), LOVSIN, ANDREJ (SLO), SAHIN, TOLGA (ITA)
Attendance: 9179
By Quarter1234
Alba Berlin22191116
Tau Ceramica24201514
End of Quarter1234
Alba Berlin22415268
Tau Ceramica24445973
Head coach: PAVICEVIC, LUKA
Alba Berlin
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
 3FG
M-A
 FT
M-A
 Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
4 JACOBSEN, CASEY 32:47 9 0/1 3/8   1 1 2 1 1 1     1 2 7
5 HERBER, JOHANNES 6:10     0/1             2     1 1 -3
6 HAMANN, STEFFEN 15:16 10 1/2 2/4 2/2   1 1     2     1 1 6
7 ZWIENER, PHILLIP DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 DOJCIN, DRAGAN 2:34     0/1         1              
9 SESAY, ANSU 35:04 6 2/4 0/3 2/2   4 4 1 1 2 1   2 2 6
12 WRIGHT, RASHAD 30:06 17 5/7 1/5 4/4   3 3 3 3 3   1 3 3 16
14 CHUBB, ADAM 21:51 5 2/4   1/2   7 7   1 1   1 4 1 5
17 CLAY, OLIVER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 FASSLER, OSKAR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 McELROY, IMMANUEL 35:41 11 3/5 1/1 2/2   5 5 4 2 2     3 4 19
32 NADJFEJI, ALEKSANDAR 20:31 10 4/5   2/2 1 3 4     2     5 1 7
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 68 17/28 7/23 13/14 3 27 30 10 8 15 1 2 20 15 67
60.7% 30.4% 92.9%
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Tau Ceramica
# Player Min Pts 2FG
M-A
 3FG
M-A
 FT
M-A
 Rebounds As St To Bl Fouls PIR
O D T Fv Ag Cm Rv
5 PRIGIONI, PABLO 30:59 3 0/1 1/5     2 2 1 3 3       2 3
8 RAKOCEVIC, IGOR 29:54 24 5/8 2/5 8/8   2 2 3   2     3 4 22
9 VIDAL, SERGI 16:16   0/2       3 3 1 1 1   1   1 2
11 ESLAVA, ARIEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 TELETOVIC, MIRZA 32:15 13 2/4 3/7   2 3 5 1   1     1   11
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 3:51                              
21 SPLITTER, TIAGO 28:11 15 5/11   5/7 2 6 8 1 1 2 2   4 10 23
22 SHAKUR, MUSTAFA 5:39   0/2     1   1 1           1 1
33 MICKEAL, PETE 33:19 14 6/9   2/2   3 3 2 2 1     3 1 15
42 BARAC, STANKO 6:29   0/1       1 1     1     2   -3
45 MCDONALD, WILL 13:07 4 1/2 0/1 2/2   1 1 1 1 2     2 1 2
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 73 19/40 6/18 17/19 7 24 31 11 8 13 2 1 15 20 81
47.5% 33.3% 89.5%
This game is not yet played

Head Coaches

PAVICEVIC, LUKA
Alba Berlin
"For us again it was a big challenge to play against a team, which in my opinion plays some of the best basketball in Europe, excellent in everything from coaching to playing. When we faced this team in their home, we lost our way in the game because of their strength and I think today it was difficult for us to get into this game knowing that. Overall for us it was an excellent game and we had our chance to win it, but in the end it looks like we still need to improve several steps in order to finish these kind of games. We made several mistakes down in the last two minutes and Tau knew how to punish 
that for their win."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Tau Ceramica
"We expected a difficult game, as Alba showed in the first round by beating three difficult teams that it has strong possibilities to play against the big teams. We won the game basically by playing excellent defense, which helped us to get some kind of advantage. I have to admit that it was a very difficult win here tonight."

Players

JACOBSEN, CASEY
Alba Berlin
"Everybody in Europe knows that Tau's a good team. But we felt tonight that we let a win slip away. Tau played well, but we feel like we made too many mistakes at the end of the game and some of these mistakes were not because of Tau's pressure. They were just because we weren't focused at the end. That's hard for us to swallow, because on this team we worked very hard and we wanted to win tonight very badly. We had a chance, we were really competitive for most of the game, but weren't good enough to win in the end."
RAKOCEVIC, IGOR
Tau Ceramica
"It was a tough game for us. We knew that Alba plays at home much better than away. They have a fantastic gym, which in my opinion is the best in Europe, and the fans help them a lot. Alba impressed me with how big they are as a team. They played really well and they caused us a lot of problems to win this game. I think we have much more experience and made use of that when we in the important moments of the game made good decisions and played very good defense. That's why we won this game."
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