By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Fenerbahce took revenge from Real Madrid in the rematch of the championship game of the 2018 Belgrade Final Four, with a 65-63 victory in Istanbul for Round 15 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Paced by Gigi Datome who handed the victory to the Turkish side with an and-one shot in the final 10 seconds and Jan Vesely the hosts were able to dominate the court after an intense battle in the second half.
“We didn’t play with confidence. At the end of the game, after having a six-point disadvantage, we were excellent but no doubt we won the game with defensive rebounding, that was the most important thing. Real Madrid was very close to winning tonight, they changed the game in the last quarter, but our last possession was excellent and in the last six seconds we played good defense”, commented Zeljko Obradovic in his post-game quotes.
The Italian forward dropped 17 points, seven rebounds, while the Czech big man added 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for the hosts that managed to withstand Real’s pressure throughout the second half.
Fenerbahce, that lacked Kostas Sloukas due to fever, moves up to a 14-1 record and enjoys the top of the standings alone, as the Spanish side follows with a 12-3 record.
Rudy Fernandez with 12 points was the top scorer in a balanced offensive effort by Real Madrid. However, the defending champions despite entering the last two minutes of the game with a 63-57 advantage, couldn’t score again until the end of the game, missing five crucial shots.
As coach Pablo Laso admitted: “I cannot be happy because I thought we arrived at the last minutes with an advantage we should have managed better, but I cannot say anything bad about my players because they played with desire all night, knowing it’s difficult to beat Fenerbahce here.”