Jayson Granger stuns Baskonia in first EuroLeague game vs his former team
Jayson Granger was unstoppable and led ALBA Berlin to the 95-91 victory over Baskonia in a rescheduled EuroLeague Round 5 game.
In his first EuroLeague game against his former team, Granger was the best player of ALBA.
Coming into the game averaging 7.3 points and 4.2 assists this season, Granger had a season-high 21 points and six assists for a PIR of 22.
“We have a great group of guys, you know. The chemistry we have is unbelievable. You saw the injured guys out there cheering for us the whole game.
So I think this game was huge for us. We showed this team has more than heart. We had desire for 40 minutes and we never give up.
Of course, I was in Baskonia for three years and I couldn’t perform my best there because I was hurt for almost three years.
But like I always say, I have great friends on that team and have a lot of respect for them. I hope they have a great season,” Granger told reporters afterwards, via EuroLeague.net.
Granger, who spent three years in Vitoria, reached a EuroLeague milestone, after surpassing the 1500-point mark in his career.
The first game of 2021 in the EuroLeague was a late thriller and was decided in the final seconds.
A three-point play by Maodo Lo, with 34 seconds to go (91-91), helped the Germans seal the deal, as the Basques ran out of time and couldn’t recover.
Baskonia came back twice from double-digit deficits, but came up short in the end and dropped to 8-9.
On the other hand, ALBA improved to 7-10 in the EuroLeague standings, maintaining a playoff push.
The hosts were dealing with a lot of issues, as five players were not available for the game due to injuries. Meanwhile, coach Aito Reneses was out due to the coronavirus.
Therefore, ALBA had only 10 players available for the contest, but stood tall in the end and earned a big EuroLeague win.
Both teams are back in action later this week in EuroLeague Round 18. ALBA stays home to host Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, while Baskonia returns home to play CSKA Moscow the same night.