Idman.biz
Azerbaijan's "Sabah" basketball club retains its chances of advancing to the FIBA Champions League play-off stage.
According to Idman.Biz, today the strongest club in Azerbaijan will face "Alba" in Berlin in the last game of the group stage.
A victory in Germany will bring the team led by Rimas Kurtinaitis to the 1/16 final stage.
In the first round of the group stage, the teams met in Baku, and in that meeting, the German club won with a score of 85:76.
Despite the favorite status of the pair, the situation in the German club's camp is quite tense on the eve of the game. A few days ago, "Alba", which had an 11-game winning streak in all tournaments, lost to "Hamburg" with a score of 80:99 in the Bundesliga. That is why the head coach of the home team, Pedro Calles, said before the game with "Sabah" that the last defeat should be a lesson.
"We must learn from the game with "Hamburg". To win matches, we need maximum concentration and energy for 40 minutes, regardless of the opponent. After the victory over Chalon, we deserved a chance to win the Champions League group. For this, we must now defeat "Sabah" at home. But the champion of Azerbaijan is not the team from the first half of the season. They have made changes in the squad and have greatly improved their game, as the victory over "Nymburk" showed," said P. Calles.
"Alba" also admits that they are waiting for a difficult match.
If "Sabah" wins in Berlin, it can take third place in the group and advance to the next stage. After Lithuanian basketball legend Rimas Kurtinaitis brought Azerbaijan's new flagship club to the Champions League level in just two months, the team is doing everything to make the most of its last chance. Even the domestic championship match planned for last weekend was postponed so that "Sabah" could optimally prepare for the Eurocup game.
Kurtinaitis mainly relies on legionnaire stars. American point guard Hassani Gravett, who played for "Oldenburg" under the leadership of Pedro Calles two years ago, Jerry Blakes, a universal basketball player who was transferred in the second half of the season, and American forward Keith Jordan often spend more than 30 minutes on the court. Kurtinaitis has more options in the center position. In the first game against "Alba", Justin Tillman especially distinguished himself, scoring 22 points and seven rebounds. Although the athletic US forward was later injured, he made a spectacular comeback last week with 18 points and nine rebounds in the match against "Nymburk". Frenchman Jean-Marc Pansa and Latvian national team center Klavs Čavars take turns in the center position. The official website of the Berlin club gave the opponent due credit and noted this.
Zaki Feyzullayev
