By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Three players safely sailed over 200 minutes in the Basketball Champions League Regular Season recently wrapped up and setting up the 16-team playoff field. Sam Dekker ruled in terms of minutes played logging 221 minutes for Turk Telekom. Dinamo Sassari’s Marco Spissu and Keravnos’ Ahmaad Rorie joined the 200-minute club as the two remaining players throwing themselves just over the mark but with an opposite outcome for their respective teams.
Health safety prioritized prompted the schedule adjustment reducing the number of games for each participating team to six. The change made out a clearer path and raised the level of competition as every single contest proved extremely important. Matches pushed back due to circumstances stemming from the coronavirus pandemic fit in nicely and all eight groups finished up with a complete two-game final-round schedule according to the initial plan.
Dekker, Spissu, and Rorie managed to highlight the action playing 200 minutes in the Regular Season. Eurohoops attempts a closer look at their paths.
Sam Dekker (Turk Telekom)
The former Wisconsin standout and veteran of 204 NBA games is going through his second season in Europe. He opted to move his talents past the Atlantic joining Lokomotiv Kuban last season. One year forward, attached to Turk Telekom, he made his way to the Champions League adding on the conclusion of the 2019-20 season and splashing into the 2020-21 edition in style.
Dekker averaged 37 minutes per game on the court summing up the league-leading 221 minutes. His 15.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per contest propelled the Turkish outlet to first place in a packed Group G leaving Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem and Limoges CSP out of the playoffs. His team went 5-1 with an away loss to Igokea preventing a perfect run.
Turk Telekom will face three new opponents aiming to return to the Final Eight. The draw will be held on Tuesday, February 2.
Marco Spissu (Dinamo Sassari)
The Italian club narrowly escaped the threat created by the Bakken Bears and their three-game streak, but ultimately clinched a playoffs berth. Head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco trusted the 25-year-old Italian point guard with the most playing time handing him 33.4 minutes per contest through the round-robin schedule.
Spissu put up 12.8 points, 7.2 assists, and 4 rebounds per appearance including six triples against Galatasaray and a 15-assist showing versus Iberostar Tenerife. He capped off his solid effort pouring a personal-high 23 points in the second game versus Galatasaray ensuring Sassari punches in the ticket to the next round.
The Italian club initially went up 3-0 in Group A but defeats at the hands of the Bears and Tenerife with Spissu limited to a total of nine points and eight assists in those two matches created a challenging situation in the final round. The Gameday 11 victory in Turkey got the job done.