By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Luka Doncic scored 20 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed 8 rebounds in 30 minutes, helping an injury-plagued Real Madrid close the first leg of the EuroLeague regular season with a huge 79 – 77 win over reigning champion Fenerbahce in Istanbul.
“It feels great. It’s a very difficult game.We suffered but we did the right job and we had to continue like that,” said Doncic in the post-game flash interview.
The Slovenian wunderkind and potential No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft didn’t manage to register that illustrious triple-double achievement but was the man behind the Blancos’ fourth consecutive win that improves their record to 9 – 6.
Meanwhile, Fenerbahce dropped to 9 – 6 after suffering its second loss in a row and third in the last four games.
The key: Brad Wanamaker, Fener‘s top performer with 20 points and 5 steals, lost back-to-back baskets in the final seconds and now the Turkish squad is fifth in the standings.
A little bit earlier Doncic had given his team a precious – considering that the match was extremely close during the second half, – four-point lead, 75 – 79, following an unsportsmanlike foul by Jan Vesely. It proved to be a game-winning advantage.
Although Pablo Laso had to cope with the absence of Rudy Fernandez for one more game and saw Walter Tavares getting ejected in the first half, he found solutions in the faces of captain Felipe Reyes and Trey Thompkins who notched 13 points plus 5 rebounds apiece.
Gigi Datome had 12 points and James Nunnally 11 points for Fenerbahce that didn’t receive much help from key contributors such as Kostas Sloukas or Jan Vesely who finished with 7 points each.