He went scoreless in the first half but then scored 25 points after the break
Nigel Hayes-Davis flipped the switch against Bayern
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Regular Season
Round 9 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Things were not looking good for Nigel Hayes-Davis heading into the halftime break during Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's Round 9 content against FC Bayern Munich. But, that pause in the game seemed to do him the world of good as he came out for the second half a different man.
Hayes-Davis did not have a good start, picking up two quick fouls and missing three consecutive shots as Bayern built a double-digit lead, 11-21. He barely saw playing time in the second quarter and had a goose egg at halftime. It’s not to say that he lit things up immediately after the break, either, picking up a turnover and missing two more shots to take him to 0 of 6 from the field.
Once Hayes-Davis found his rhythm, however, things were very different. Hayes-Davis went on to score his next nine shots, starting with back-to-back three-pointers. He had 18 points in the final 7 minutes to break a Fenerbahce club record for most points in a third quarter, and by the time he followed a driving layup with a bomb from beyond the arc, his team led 67-58 after 30 minutes.
Far from stopping there, Hayes-Davis banked in a close shot early in the fourth quarter and buried his fifth three-pointer to pretty much seal the outcome, 72-58. Once Hayes-Davis took a rest, Fenerbahce found a new go-to guy who had been off target until that moment in Tarik Biberovic. After being scoreless for the majority of the game, Biberovic scored all 11 of his points in the final 6 minutes to make sure Bayern did not get back into the game.
Hayes-Davis finished the game with 25 points, which all came in the second half. That's four second-half points less than when he had 50 against ALBA Berlin last season to break the EuroLeague's all-time single-game scoring record.
"It was actually Devon Hall. I have a little thing I like to do with him about microwave in the second half, and he doesn't believe in me, so his negativity infused me," Hayes-Davis joked after the game. "Teammates believed in me, Coach drew plays for me and at the start of the second half, even when I had zero points, I ultimately just believed in myself. The things I say to myself when I walk on the court, positive self-talk. I just try a better teammate and help the team win."
Play-caller Saras Jasikevicius was particularly impressed with the mental strength that Fenerbahce’s No. 11 showed on the night.
"It is fantastic how he kept going and didn't lose his composure, his confidence,” he said. “It is his second game in a row that he is doing the right thing, basically getting himself in foul trouble by doing the right things for the team. So in Lyon [against ASVEL] and here, he was in foul trouble but ultimately didn't lose his composure, didn't lose his confidence and became so hot in the second half that he was impossible to stop."
Fenerbahce is on a four-game winning streak, a period in which Hayes-Davis has averaged 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and a PIR of 23.3. He now travels to a familiar place as he comes up against his former team, Zalgiris Kaunas, on the road in Round 10 on Friday.