The German side committed 26 turnovers, but still managed to beat Lietkabelis
Hamburg survived turnovers thanks to three-point accuracy
It doesn’t happen often that a team commits 26 turnovers and is able to rally from 17 points down and get a victory. But that is exactly what Veolia Towers Hamburg did with their comeback victory over 7Bet-Lietkabelis Paneveyzs.
Hamburg was down 44-61 in the third quarter but managed to turn the game around and pull out an 84-77 win over Lietkabelis to end a three-game losing streak and improve to 4-12 on the season.
“We could feel ourselves getting stops. We weren’t executing on offense. We had too many turnovers. But we were getting stops. And if you get stops it will always come back to you,” said Hamburg guard Johnathan Stove, who collected 22 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in the win. “It feels good. We needed this one - for confidence and team morale. It was just a good win for us.”
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Hamburg was uncharacteristically on target from long range, making 10 of 21 three-pointers at 47.6% shooting from long range. Entering the game, the German side had connected on only 29.3% of its three-point attempts, ranking last in the EuroCup. But Lietkabelis’s defense ranked 16th in opposing team’s three-point shooting at 35.7%.
Hamburg coach Benka Barloschky was satisfied with how his team performed.
“Very proud. Like the whole season, this team has a lot of character. The culture is right. They want to win. We turned the ball over too much. We made life too tough for ourselves. But the way we defended, the way we fought - through all the adversities in this game - it's a testimony to the character of this group,” said the Hamburg coach.
Hamburg usually struggles at containing opposing teams’ long-range shooting, ranking 19th on the season at 38.1%. But Barloschky’s men allowed just 3-of-21 three-point shooting (14.3%) on this night.
The German team’s defense just stood strong - unlike all season. It allowed only 77 points and gave up a team performance index rating of 89. Hamburg’s defense ranked last in those two categories entering the contest with 107.4 PIR and 89.3 points per game allowed.