By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Even without forward Anthony Randolph, guard Sergio Llull, swingman Jeff Taylor, and team captain Felipe Reyes, Real Madrid got an impressive win over Fenerbahce BEKO in Istanbul.
The final score was 94-65, as the absences gave the space for the rest of Madrid’s stars to shine. Jaycee Carroll scored 20, Walter Tavares added 16, Trey Thompkins had 14 in 13 minutes of action, and Jordan Mickey scored 12. Madrid has now a 19-6 record, good enough for the second spot in the standings.
“One good thing is that we’ve always played here with a team concept”, said Carroll. “We have a whole lot of players that can come in, step up and play. We saw that today with a lot of guys who maybe hadn’t played a lot of minutes in the last few games, but they stepped up and played great.”
On the other hand, Nando De Colo did have 21 points, and Jan Vesely added 16, however no player of Fenerbahce was a real factor in the game.
Real Madrid was dominating on the way to a 47-31 halftime lead and never looked back while shooting a mind-boggling 71% in two-pointers (28/39) and dishing in total 30 assists.
The best that Fenerbahce could do in the second half was to trim Madrid’s advantage to nine points (58-49) momentarily in the third period, but Madrid’s answer was a 13-2 run to close the quarter at 71-51.
The worst home defeat in the Obradovic era
It’s the first time in the Obradovic era that Fenerbahce loses a game with ten or more points at home, and the 29 points are the third-biggest negative point difference of the club in the same era.
As Real Madrid’s coach Pablo Laso admitted: “I’m happy for the victory, I’m happy with the performance of my team. I think we played very smart. I think our defense was basic and we were very solid defensively and rebounding. We moved the ball well and looked for open players. And that’s why we controlled the game.”
Fenerbahce still has playoffs hopes with an 11-14 record, but coach Zeljko Obradovic is pessimistic.
Photo credit: EuroLeague