Though not in tip-top form, the league leaders remained unbeaten on the road
Fenerbahce found a way to win despite 'frustrated' Saras
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 11 of 34
Group Regular Season
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It wasn’t how coach Sarunas Jasikevicius drew it up. But it counts just the same as a victory for Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.
The team with the best record in the league remained undefeated on the road after shaking off a double-figure deficit in the fourth quarter at Virtus Segafredo Bologna to claim an 82-86 triumph.
"Frustrated is not the correct word. It’s 10 times more," Jasikevicius said on EuroLeague TV after the game about his team’s performance. "I don’t even know what to say… I don’t understand anything about basketball."
Saras continued: "The way we played today, probably in the fourth quarter, the players stopped listening to me and that was probably when they played their best basketball. And that is probably how we are going to sum up the whole night."
There is no arguing that the fourth quarter is when Fenerbahce played its best basketball. In the final stanza, it outscored Virtus 21-30. Over the game’s final 5 minutes, it was 7-20. Of those 20 points, all but three of them were scored by two men: Marko Guduric and Nigel Hayes-Davis.
With three star guards sidelined by injury, Fenerbahce was not itself and needed players to step up. Bonzie Colson did so at times and finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Khem Birch (8 points, 6 rebounds) made several key plays. And Tarik Biberovic (11 points) came through with 3 critical free throws late.
But the heroes were Guduric and Hayes-Davis. And even Coach Jasikevicius knew to credit them afterward.
Game Videos
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"Probably Marko did everything exactly how I didn’t ask him to do," Saras said. "Probably that’s why we won today. Because he found a solution."
Those solutions included being aggressive in attacking the Virtus defense, whether getting to the rim, pulling up to shoot or finding Hayes-Davis for open looks. The result was Guduric's best game this season as he finished with 21 points on 4-of-7 three-point shooting, which were both season-highs.
"Nigel has been playing at this level now for the whole season. With the issues we are having, Nigel is carrying us. He is playing at an MVP level," Jasikevicius continued.
The issues are the injuries to Scottie Wilbekin, Wade Baldwin and Devon Hall. And the response has been Hayes-Davis scoring at least 18 points in six straight games – all of them Fenerbahce wins. He made 5 of 6 triples against Virtus to take his season-long average from deep up to 50% (32 for 64). Hayes-Davis finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds for a PIR of 25.
While Fenerbahce shot 39.4% from downtown for the game, take Guduric and Hayes-Davis away and that number plummets to 20%.
Guduric, though, wasn’t taking the credit.
"I don’t know how we pulled this one out, but I am extremely happy for this win. Another road win. It’s huge in the EuroLeague. Big shot by Nigel in the end to close the game out," he said.
Not only did Guduric shine a light on Hayes-Davis, but he then focused on the late stops the team made: "In the fourth quarter we played much better defense. We changed the coverage, so that was a good thing for us. And then we just hit some shots."
In the end, it may have frustrated their coach not to win the way he wanted, but Fenerbahce did what championship teams do. They relied on their leaders. Made plays. And found a way to win.
That is why Fenerbahce sits atop the standings. And that is why the other championship contenders should take notice.