By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
What the game between Lokomotiv Kuban and Fenerbahce lacked in beauty, carried it in double dozes of excitement. After a hard fought and very physical match, the Turkish squad won 52 – 55 in Krasnodar, becoming the first team to advance in the Euroleague playoffs.
Bobby Dixon was the hero for Fenerbahce, banging the three-pointer that made it 52 – 54 with 46 seconds to go. One free throw by Luigi Datome in the next play of the guests was enough to give the important edge to his team, since Anthony Randolph had previously missed both chances from the line. Lokomotiv Kuban didn’t make any of its downtown attempted to tie the games in the last seconds, losing the match.
Generally, not many players stood out for their individual performances, save perhaps for Bogdan Bogdanovic from Fenerbahce, who scored 17 points, plus 6 rebounds, and Victor Claver who had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for Lokomotiv Kuban.
The hosts started the game well enough to lead by seven points, 11 – 4 in the mid of the first quarter, however Fenerbahce soon took advantage of their opponents’ really negative turnover/assist ratio (4/1) to first make a 0 – 11 run and then lead 13 – 17 at the end of the period.
Chris Singleton’s entrance benefited the hosts on both ends of court, and Loko tied the score 19 – 19. Zeljko Obradovic mixed his cards to help Fener find solutions from the bench in the faces of Ricky Hickman and Ekpe Udoh and his team got the biggest lead in the game by then, 20 – 29. Anthony Randolph then finally reclaimed his lost shooting mojo, helping his team reduce the deficit to five, 25 – 30 at halftime.
Although the hosts had a strong entrance in the second quarter, particularly by dominating the boards, coach Bartzokas’ players could not translate their second chance shots into baskets. Fenerbahce remained in front of the score, but Victor Claver’s passion and persistence made it 44 – 43 thanks to his 5 consecutive points.
Lokomotiv Kuban was the first team to score in the fourth quarter but Fener quickly reclaimed its lead thanks to a small 0 – 5 run. But, then the two teams blacked out on offense, making a lot of mistakes, something which is also evident by the fact that they both finished the game with more turnovers than assists. When Malcolm Delaney scored the first points by both teams after 5 minutes of “drought”, the “extreme” small-ball squad which coach Obradovic used in the final period, reacted bu producing the goods with two shots by Bogdanovic Dixon putting their team to the path of victory.