The visiting team thrived from long-range shooting which forced the Serbian side into submission
Red-hot offense carried Fenerbahce past Crvena Zvezda
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Regular Season
Round 21 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul took a big step towards securing a postseason berth in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague on Wednesday night after sound three-point shooting propelled the competition’s 2017 champion to a vital 91-96 win at Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, which is a season high in points for Saras Jasikevicius's men.
The result left Fenerbahce second in the standings (following AS Monaco’s loss at FC Bayern Munich a little later on Wednesday) with a 13-7 record while Zvezda slipped to ninth with a 12-9 mark, as a fiercely competitive regular season looks set for a dramatic finale in the battle for postseason spots.
The outcome also produced a third successive victory for Fenerbahce and simultaneously ended Zvezda’s four-game winning streak, with the visitors hitting an impressive 17 of 35 from downtown to silence a fervent home crowd inside Belgrade Arena.
Among a pack of impressive performers, forward Nigel Hayes-Davis stood out with a game-high 27points,s which earned him the player of the game accolade. Nicolo Melli also sank a season-high 16 points to go with 7 boards.
“We took some steps in the right direction and although I sound like a broken record, the goal in a EuroLeague season is to constantly get better,” Hayes-Davis said in his postgame comments, underscoring the importance of consistency.
“Tonight we did a fantastic job moving and sharing the ball, as that’s something we wanted to work on. We need to work on defense as that’s where we are going to hang our hat on if we want to accomplish anything this year.”
Melli pointed out that it is going to be a thin line between success and failure this season, with a bunch of teams breathing down each other’s necks in the battle to advance into the business end of Europe’s premier club competition.
“We knocked down shots and that allowed us to win the game,” the Italian veteran said. “We wanted to win this game after losing the last one [against Zvezda at home] as every game is almost like a final at this stage. Two losses and you’re out of the playoffs; two wins and you’re top of the rankings. We’re happy because we won on a very tough court against a very good team.”
Coach Jasikevicius also praised his team’s smooth offense which generated 22 assists and a mere 6 turnovers, as it also produced 8 steals for Fenerbahce.
“We were fantastic offensively pretty much the whole game,” said the Lithuanian tactician. “Defensively we were good in the second and third quarter but in the end it got a little bit dangerous when they started coming back. Overall, it was a great performance by the boys.”
Zvezda head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos conceded that the Serbian side was dismantled by Fenerbahce’s superior offense. “We tried different things in an effort to stop them but they kept finding ways to score,” he said. “Our defense was just not good enough for this type of game.”
Next up for Fenerbahce is a home game against Zalgiris Kaunas while Zvezda entertains AS Monaco on Friday, with more fascinating basketball in store at the end of the double-round week.