By Nikos Varlas varlas@eurohoops.net
The Queen wants to win its remaining two games to achieve the ultimate goal and lock in first place. After its last two defeats, Fenerbahce is now fourth in the standings, tied with Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens and just one win above Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz.
Fenerbahce needs two wins – one in Madrid and one against FC Barcelona Lassa at Fenerbahce Ulker Sports Arena – to be sure to hold on to fourth place and the home-court advantage in the playoffs! Otherwise, it’s very likely that Fenerbahce will be forced to fight for a spot in the Final Four without that home-court advantage, which is something they surely want to avoid.
This game features two of the best guards in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Madrid’s fantastic Mr. Clutch, Sergio Llull, will line up opposite Fenerbahce’s charismatic Serbian guard, Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Llull, 29, is going through the best period of his career and is the clear leader of Coach Pablo Laso’s team. In his 10th season in the competition, all with Los Blancos, Llull is averaging 16.6 points, 6.2 assists and a performance index rating of 17.4 per game. This rocket-propelled guard does everything on the court, he’s unstoppable in offense and at the same time an excellent defender on the ball and in one-on-one defense. As time passed, Llull has become an increasingly great shooter! No one can stop his famous high-arching shots (‘mandarinas’, as they call them in Spain) and his accuracy is remarkable when he executes as the shot clock expires.
At the club level, Llull has captured three championships and five cups in Spain with Madrid and, of course, the EuroLeague trophy in 2015. At the national team level with the Furias Rojas, he has celebrated three EuroBasket gold medals, in 2009, 2011 and 2015, as well as a bronze medal in 2013. Llull has also claimed a pair of Olympic medals: silver from the 2012 games in London and bronze last summer in Rio.
Bogdanovic, 24, is averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 assists, 1 steal and an index rating of 15.9 this season. He has missed some time this season due to injuries, but is now healthy and the absolute leader on Coach Zeljko Obradovic’s team. A great shooter from any range, Bogdanovic likes taking big shots and in the last two years has shown great improvement in reading the game and creating, as he has with his aggressive penetrations to the basket to become a full offensive package and a nuisance for opposing defenses.
This is his fifth season in the EuroLeague; Bogdanovic debuted with Partizan Belgrade, where he played two seasons and is now in his third with Fenerbahce. Bogdanovic was voted Rising Star two years in a row, in 2014 and 2015. He has already celebrated four Serbian League championships, two Serbian Cups and a pair of Adriatic League crowns with Partizan. Last year, he won the double in Turkey with Fenerbahce. With Team Serbia, Bogdanovic won the silver medal at the 2014 Basketball World Cup and silver from the recent Olympic Games in Rio.
So sit back, relax and enjoy a very big game on Friday night in the Spanish capital and be aware that if the clash is close and decided in the final minutes, Llull and Bogdanovic are going to be the usual suspects to take the responsibility as well as the shots that will decide the outcome of a big European clash.