By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Jan Vesely surely enjoys his dunks but even he probably lost count of how many times he slammed the ball tonight.
The Czech center was dunking in any way imaginable against Brose Bamberg en route to finishing with 26 points. Combined with 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 7 fouls won, his numbers combined for a career-high 36 in PIR as the EuroLeague defending champions won the day 77 – 69.
“We lost a very important game in Athens against Olympiacos. It wasn’t easy. We came fighting against Efes and we wanted to have the same game. This is a great team win and everybody was fighting on both ends. I’m grateful for this win. We’re going to keep going the same way,” Vesely said in the post-game flash interview.
Vesely’s dunks were also the baskets that sealed the result of the game in favor of his team in the fourth period. When a persistent Brose Bamberg squad chewed a bit of a 17-point third-quarter deficit (52-35) to come close 70 – 62 and get an actual fighting chance, the Fener big first made the putback dunk and then threw the hammer in transition for the 74 – 62 with 4:26 remaining.
Brose Bamberg coach Ilias Kantzouris (he serves as the head coach in place of Andrea Trinchieri who had a shoulder surgery) called a timeout but the Turkish team’s lead proved to be way to large to overcome.
The Bavarians couldn’t counter their opponents’ quality despite the 18 points plus 8 rebounds by Dejan Musli and the 11 points courtesy of Daniel Hackett. This loss dropped them to a 8 – 14 and greatly reduced their playoff hopes.
Meanwhile, Fenerbahce improved its record to 15 – 7.