The veteran sharpshooter achieved his career high in points on a night in which he passed the 1,000-point mark in his EuroLeague career.
Marco Belinelli turned back the clock to lead Virtus past Baskonia
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Regular Season
Round 14 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Marco Belinelli fired on all cylinders at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz to lead Virtus Segafredo Bologna to a crucial 81-91 victory in Round 14 of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season on Thursday night.
The Virtus forward hit the ground running and scored half of his team’s 24 points in the first quarter to reach the 1,000-point milestone in the EuroLeague. Belinelli did net just 4 points in the next two quarters, but he stepped up when it mattered most to practically win the game for the guests.
A career night for Belinelli
The 37-year-old star turned back the clock in the last quarter, bagging 11 points to allow Virtus to seal the victory in crunch time. Belinelli ended the game with a career-high 27 points, having gone 6-for-9 from inside the arc, 4-for-8 from downtown and a perfect 3-for-3 from the free-throw line.
“I feel good,” Belinelli said in the post-game flash interview. “I love to play for this team. I love to play for this coach [Luca Banchi], for this organization. So, every time I go to the court, I try to play my game, try to be aggressive. It’s not just myself but all the team.”
Belinelli stepped up in crunch time
The Virtus star was the man who practically put the game to bed with his back-to-back triples late in the game, when the guests went on a 0-10 run to clinch the win. Belinelli punished the hosts by hitting an open three with 1:23 left on the clock to make it 76-85, before drilling another one with 0:14 remaining (81-88) to finish the game off.
“Every game is tough,” Belinelli added. “We fought here to win the game and we knew that the game was hard because Baskonia is a great team and they play physical. We played well, we played like a team, we played hard and I think we controlled the game well in the last 3 or 4 minutes.”
After grabbing its third road win in six games away from home, Virtus returns to Virtus Segafredo Arena for Round 15 on Tuesday, when the Italian side will face Olympiacos Piraeus in its bid to clinch its eighth victory in nine home duels.