The big man came off the bench to set a career-high in scoring
Sestina's Game 1 performance showed he is an option for Fenerbahce
Nathan Sestina was probably not high on AS Monaco’s scouting report of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul players who could have a major impact on Game 1 of the playoffs. But the EuroLeague rookie showed he can be an option for head coach Saras Jasikevicius if needed.
Sestina came off the Fenerbahce bench and scored a career-high 16 points with 4 three-pointers to go with 6 rebounds and 1 steal for a performance index rating of 16 in Fenerbahce’s 91-95 opening game victory.
The 26-year-old American scored 8 straight points after Monaco had opened a 14-point lead in the second quarter to get Fenerbahce back in the game. And the forward added the back-breaking three-pointer with 72 seconds left in overtime to secure the win.
Sestina made 4-of-5 three-pointers in total as the team made 14-of-30 from long range. It was the third time this season that Sestina hit 4 triples. He went 4-of-5 in a Round 20 win over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade and 4-of-6 in a Round 27 victory against Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz - scoring 14 points in both of those games.
But Sestina hasn’t been a part of the Fenerbahce attack in the six games since the outburst against Baskonia. He only attempted 10 shots over that stretch and totaled just 13 combined points. In the Round 34 game at Olympiacos Piraeus, Sestina registered no stats in just 45 seconds on the court.
The situation in Game 1 just worked to perfection for Sestina, who played a career-high 31 minutes and tied his previous bests of 6 rebounds and 16 PIR.
What the rest of the series holds for Sestina remains unclear, but one thing is certain: he showed he can step up if given the chance and Monaco will have him a bit more scouted on the pre-game report.