Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has been without power forward Danilo Barthel for most of the season and now that he's back, he's definitely helping.
Barthel returned and looked good for Fenerbahce
Barthel joined the club Istanbul last season after four consecutive campaigns with FC Bayern Munich. He averaged 6.3 points with very good shooting (57.8% 2FG, 41.2% 3FG, 88.4% FT) and 3.1 rebounds in 29 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague games in his first season with Fenerbahce. Before Sunday, however, Barthel had only played one game this season, spending less than 4 minutes on the floor in Round 2 against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on October 7, 2021. He didn't even have time to shoot the ball. Almost five months later, Barthel is back in action and appears to be a solid contributor off the bench in his first games back.
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He made his return in Round 27 against AS Monaco after practicing with the team a couple of times. Barthel saw a good chunk of playing time, more than 18 minutes, and made the most of it, finishing that game with 10 points. Two days later, in a rescheduled game from Round 19, Barthel had another good performance in a losing effort against Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade with 15 points on near-perfect shooting - 5 of 6 inside the arc and burying his only three-point attempt and a pair of free throws. In the last two games, Barthel has averaged 12.5 points (87.5% 2FG, 100% 3FG, 88.9% FT) and a PIR of 15.0. It is a good sign for Fenerbahce to have an in-form Barthel back for the most decisive stretch of the regular season.