Euroleague: The sinking of Fenerbahçe against Milan
Fenerbahçe and Nando De Colo had a terrifying evening against Euroleague leader Armani Milan.
43 points scored – a record of its kind for the team -, nine very long minutes of waiting to register the first on a layup from Sehmus Hazer, 3 points over the whole of the first quarter, and also 9 in the third . A humiliating defeat in front of 8,600 Turkish fans, 43-68. This is the catastrophic record of Fenerbahçe against Milan.
Nando De Colo did not come out of the trap either, scoring only 2 points by missing 6 of his 7 shots. Only Jan Vesely (9 points, 7 rebounds, 21 evaluation) was worthy of his status at Fener.
“It is very important, because we know that it was a difficult environment”, a declared the Italian Nicolo Melli, author of 6 points, 6 rebounds and… 6 interceptions. “Fenerbahce lost a few games by a few points, those things are not realistic for them, so we knew it was a tough game and we had prepared it really well. I think we noticed our pace from the start, that was the key.“
Fener coach Sasha Djordjevic did not have an obvious answer to explain the offensive inertia of his players.
“The defense was solid in the end, we kept Milan under 70 points, but offensively we did not open the night as we wanted. The shots weren’t coming in, the shot selection wasn’t there, our heads weren’t there. The combat, the intensity, is something that has chosen one step ahead of us right now, and we have to think about it for the future. We have a game in two days and we have to get our energy back. I take this on myself.“
Photo: Jan Vesely (Euroleague)