By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce managed to come out on top in a tough game against Baskonia with a narrow 74-72 road win in Round 6 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Nikola Kalinic put Fener ahead 71-70 by making two free throws with thirty seconds left. In the following offense, Baskonia shot three times from behind the arc but Tornike Shengelia, Ilmane Diop and Matt Janning all missed their shots.
Soon after, Kostas Sloukas drew an unsportsmanlike foul making only one free throw but Luigi Datome made two more and secured the win for Fenerbahce.
Datome led the victors with 16 points and five rebounds while Joffrey Lauvergne scored 15 points. On the other side, Diop notched game-high 17 points along with game-high 25 PIR. He got some help from Shengelia with 15 points.
After two minutes without scoring, the game quickly picked up the pace with a barrage of threes on both sides. It was a balanced first quarter which should’ve ended with Fenerbahce ahead but Luca Vildoza notched a half-court buzzer to put Baskonia ahead 20-18.
Oh WOW! ?
At the buzzer…from HALF-COURT!#7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/Z50ogF7KjA
— EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) November 9, 2018
The Spaniards lost their ‘groove’ from behind the arc but the pick and roll combinations with Ilimane Diop gave a lot of trouble to Fener. Diop put down three alley-oops, drew four fouls and made six free throws in the first half which is the main reason for a tie at the break (33-33). He was also in charge of the defense:
.@GigiDatome drives to the basket…but is MET by @eliimane ?#7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/9VoTa5jgsb
— EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) November 9, 2018
It was a fairly balanced third quarter also. In fact, it was a tie at 47 but Baskonia went ahead with an 8-1 run (55-48) mostly thanks to the good defense which forced Fener to turn over the ball multiple times. However, the Turks quickly recovered and brought the game to an interesting finish.
“I really don’t have much to say, I believe it was not a good game. We tried to prepare ourselves for the aggressiveness of Baskonia but in the end, we had a lot of turnovers and played very slow. One of the worst games this season in general. However, we found a way to react and win the game.”, coach Zeljko Obradovic explained at the post-game press conference.
Fenerbahce improved to 5-1 while Baskonia holds a 2-4 record.
Baskonia coach Pedro Martinez thought it could go either way as well and blamed the bad last-second defense for the loss: “It was a really close game, went down to the wire, it was heads or tails basically. We played very poorly in defense and in the last seconds of the possessions. Now we have to evaluate the positive things we can take from this game and move on to the next one.”
Photo Credit: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague