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Alba without McLean and Hammonds

Berlin lost their third consecutive Bunesliga game Sunday, but the fact their top players got injured hurt much more than the defeats

Barcelona's form is constantly improving but not even that was enough for them to beat the brilliant Real Madrid in the Cup final. Ante Tomic had a great performance but the rest of the team didn't follow suit and Real won even though Barcelona's defense did well this time around. Barcelona opened the Euroleague Top 16 badly but everything is still possible and they will try and secure a spot in the final tournament. The first obstacle on the road is Alba, a team that beat them in Berlin. 

- This is a big game for us, very important. We need to play well and win this match - coach Pascual said. 

He was forced to do the first leg game without Navarro, Oleson, and Abrines and that was a period of crisis for Barcelona, which saw them lose away. Alba beat them by 10 points, which is what Pascual's team will try and make up for today, even though he says they want any kind of a win.

- Alba defensive end is among the best ones in the league. The limited Maccabi to 59 points. They are very patient and don't rush into anything, which doesn't result in particularity great games but it means that we will have to be very patient and aggressive to respond to their patience.

There were some rumors going around after the Cup final defeat that Pascual had words with Huertas, but the coach dismissed such notion:

- We can accept criticism, but lies no. The only thing I can say about Huertas is that he played the finals medicated and that proves how loyal he is and how much he loves this club. 

There are no disagreements between the coach and Huertas but his injury is still a problem. Today's game is very important and Huartas will be on the team for sure. Unlike in Berlin, Barcelona will have the entire back court to count on. The back court is their great strength and their game improved massively since it got completed.

Alba have nice memories of their first head-to-head game in the season. They won early this year in a very impressive manner and it later transpired that the win over Barcelona was the first and only home win in Top 16. But Albe beat Galatasaray and Maccabi away for the 3-4 record, which doesn't seem bad at all.

Their Bundesliga form does seem bad though. They are on a 3-game losing run, lost the top spot and then went to to meet Ludwigsburg last round not only to lose points but two very important players as well. They second half of that game was the worst performance by Alba's defensive end since coach Obradovic took over. They took a lead by half time but then recorded only 19 points in the next 20 minutes (only 4 in the third quarter). Ludwigsburg are not bad, but they are also not the kind if a team that should limit Alba to under 60 points. Alba finished with 18 turnovers and field-goal efficiency of 30%. Redding finished 0-for-7 and Hammonds and Radosevic didn't meet the expectations either. As per usual, the top scorer at Alba was center McLean (14 points), while point guard Renfroe did well with 10.

It was published after that game that McLean will be out for 3-4 weeks with a major thigh muscle injury, while Hammond injured an ankle and won't be able to play for 7-10 days. Forward Vargas had a couple of his teeth knocked out but he'll be fit to play. McLean will be tough, almost impossible, to make up for. He is by far the best player at Alba this season. For example, he scored 16 points and added 8 rebounds in the first head-to-head with Barcelona. Hammonds finished with 11 back then. McLean had 18 points in Tel Aviv, 19 against Bayern. He is Alba's top scorer in almost every match. Hammonds is not as important in offense but he is considered to be one of Alba's top players on the defensive end.

- When we played Barcelona home, they were without Navarro, Oleson, and Abrines. Those players are now back but we don't have McLean and Hammonds to count on. Lucky, this game is not a must-win for us - Obradovic said and added:

- I don't think we're in a crisis, we just lack consistency. The wins over Bayern in the Cup and Maccabi proved we are still there.

There are a few reasons for me to go with this bet. First of all, there's the difference in quality that was not that obvious in the first match in Berlin because Barcelona had to do without Abrines, Navarro, and Oleson and were completely out of shape. Those three players are now back while Alba have to do without their top player today. These two teams are very different when it comes to home and away games. Barca found form recently, all o their 12 players are playing, they're in excellent form and much better than in the first part of the season. They need to try and win by more than 10 points today and given their recent form and the status of the two teams, I would be very surprised if they don't win by over 20.