By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
What the basketball gods “stole” from Crvena Zvezda last week against Darussafaka Dogus, handed it back to them in tonight’s match vs Galatasaray. A well-focused Serbian team managed to escape from Istanbul victorious 85 – 83 claiming their first win in this season’s Euroleague.
It was a match of huge ups and downs, comebacks and truly heroic performances by both teams which was ultimately decided in the details of the last minutes. It was there, when with the score 83 – 80 in favor of the “Cimbom”, that Red Star read some inconsistencies in the opposing defense plus struck in transition to drop 4 points in a row for the 83 – 84.
Galatasaray had two opportunities to regain the lead but failed in both of them. Alex Tyus got fouled, but went 0/2 from the free throw line and then with two seconds to go, Austin Daye, the hosts’ best player in the game, was off target in a jump shot attempt. Game over, in favor of Red Star.
Marko Simonovic shined in a magnificent night for him during which he recorded a Euroleague career high in points with 23 (4/6 three-pointers). Stefan Jovic had a pretty slick game of 16 points and 9 assists, making his 6 turnovers ultimately look nonexistent. He also banked what was proven to be the “game-winner” basket for the Serbs.
As said above, Austin Daye (24 points, 15 of them in the third quarter) was the top performer for Galatasaray along with Alex Tyus (19 points, 27 index rating, both of them Euroleague career highs). Alas, in a strange sense of irony they were also the fatal characters for their team, not delivering in their last-second attempts to win the match.