By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce Beko bounced back to wins after three straight losses by beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 75 – 65 on the road. Igor Kokoskov’s players shot 11-22 3-pointers to defeat their opponents, a pretty big number of triples in comparison with their overall scoring output.
Bobby Dixon was the one who mainly damaged Maccabi from downtown, hitting 5-6 threes for a team-high and season-best 17 points. Nando De Colo added 13 points and Jarrell Eddie 11.
De Colo drained the dagger for Fener’s win with a long-range win for the 65 – 73 with a minute left on the clock. Maccabi was trying to come back after falling behind 58 – 69 halfway through the fourth period after scoring just four points in the first six minutes of the quarter.
Scottie Wilbekin scored a game-high 23 points for Maccabi that was leading in most of the game up until the decisive fourth period. Ante Zizic posted a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds and Chris Jones dropped 10 points for the “Yellows” that are now 2-4.
Too many 3-pointers
“I think that, today, we didn’t play smart,” Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos said. “We didn’t make good decisions defensively and offensively. Mainly, we lost because of our offense, but I think that also defensively we could have avoided some easy points that they scored. They scored 75 points; this is not a lot, but with 50% for three. I believe that we could have avoided 6-8 of their points, easily.”
The decisive stretch in the fourth period
Fenerbahce coach Igor Kokoskov saw his players allowing very few points in the fourth period to manage to get a double-digit lead for the first time in the game.
“I think we had some ups and downs, but at the end of the game, our defense was pretty solid,” Kokoskov said. “We got our confidence back and our defense in the fourth quarter, I have to mention that, it was a key factor.”
“Still, there are a lot of areas that we have to look at as a squad, as a group, like offensive rebounds,” Kokoskov added. “We knew that rebounds was going to be one of the key points tonight and we have to do a better job. The games that we won, we did a solid job rebounding the ball.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball