2020-21Regular SeasonRound 30
March 18, 2021 CET: 18:45
Local time: 20:45 ULKER SPORTS AND EVENT HALL

Fenerbahce flattens Zalgiris

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul cruised to a convincing 84-61 victory over Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday night at Ulker Sports and Event Hall. The hosts bounced back after scoring a season-low 52 points in a loss at Valencia Basket the week before to net 28 in the first quarter alone. The victory lifted Fenerbahce's record to 18-12, while Zalgiris fell to 15-15. Jan Vesely dominated with 21 points on 9-of-10 field goal shooting plus 10 points and 5 assists for the winners, Nando De Colo accumulated 16 points and 6 assists and Dyshawn Pierre added 12 points and 2 blocks. Lukas Lekavicius paced Zalgiris with 12 points, Thomas Walkup scored 11 and Marius Grigonis paired 10 points with a career-high 8 assists.

Nigel Hayes started the scoring with a three-pointer and he later added a basket in the paint to stretch the visitors' lead to 2-7. De Colo sliced into the Zalgiris lead with a dish to Vesely in the paint and a three-pointer. A deep three by Grigonis made it 9-12 after 5 minutes. De Colo added a second three before his steal led to a Pierre slam for the hosts' first lead. Marko Guduric capped an 8-0 Fenerbahce run with a three-point play that made it 17-12. De Colo fed Vesely for a spectacular alley-oop slam and added a triple as the hosts stretched the lead. A three by Guduric late in the first quarter gave Fenerbahce a double-digit lead, 28-18. Lekavicius sparked Zalgiris at the start of the second quarter, but Fenerbahce held firm. Martinas Geben's alley-oop dunk made it 32-24 midway through the quarter. Rokas Jokubaitis drew the visitors within 6, however, Guduric and Pierre assisted on each other's baskets and Vesely scored another 7 in a 13-0 run to finish the half ahead 45-26.

A three by Walkup and a steal and slam by Grigonis showed that Zalgiris had life in it. Baskets by Vesely and Ahmet Duverioglu saw Fenerbahce recapture its dominant form and lift its lead to 20. Lorenzo Brown's layup made it 66-41, though Zalgiris scored the last 5 points of the third quarter – through Paulius Jankunas, Lekavicius and Augustine Rubit – to get within 66-46. Danilo Barthel started and ended a 10-0 run to start the fourth quarter with threes as the lead ballooned to 30. Walkup ended the Zalgiris drought with a three and he banked in another before finishing a fastbreak with a layup that made it 79-56, but it was too little, too late as Fenerbahce cruised to another big win.

Game-deciding run

Zalgiris was still in the hunt in the second quarter and a three-pointer by Rokas Jokubaitis made it a 6-point game. That's when Fenerbahce went on a 13-0 tear to finish the half ahead 45-26. Marko Guduric and Dyshawn Pierre assisted on each other's baskets and Jan Vesely scored another 7 in the run.

Telling numbers

Fenerbahce outshot and outrebounded Zalgiris. The home team made 60.5% of its two-pointers, compared to 50% by Zalgiris. Fenerbahce converted 55.6% of its threes, while the visitors made 25%. And on the glass, it was 39-25.

De Colo passes a legend

Nando De Colo finished the game with a performance index rating of 23, which marked the seventh time in his last eight games that his PIR has been more than 20. That run of form led to him moving past FC Barcelona legend Juan Carlos Navarro for third place all-time with 3,891 index rating points – 1 more than Navarro retired with. The man in second place was De Colo's opponent on this night; Paulius Jankunas has 3.946 although he did so in 154 more games. De Colo also came within 1 free throw of Navarro for third place on that list with 852.

What's next?

Zalgiris returns home for Round 31 to host Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday, March 25. Fenerbahce will visit Greece to play Olympiacos Piraeus the following evening.

Nando De Colo - Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul - EB20
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: PEREZ, MIGUEL ANGEL; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; MAJKIC, MARIO
Attendance: 250
By Quarter1234
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul28172118
Zalgiris Kaunas1882015
End of Quarter1234
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul28456684
Zalgiris Kaunas18264661
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
4 BROWN, LORENZO 23:56 8 4/7 0/2     4 4 5 1 1     1 1 12
5 PEREZ, ALEX 11:06     0/1     1 1     1     3   -4
8 GUDURIC, MARKO 16:20 9 2/4 1/3 2/3   1 1 2 1 1     2 3 8
10 MAHMUTOGLU, MELIH DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 O'QUINN, KYLE BRANDON 12:19 2 1/1       4 4 2             8
13 BIBEROVIC, TARIK 15:28 8 1/3 2/2   1 1 2 1   1     2 1 7
19 DE COLO, NANDO 25:55 16 2/3 3/4 3/4   1 1 6 2 3     1 5 23
21 PIERRE, DYSHAWN 28:31 12 3/5 2/3   1 3 4 2     2   1 3 19
22 BARTHEL, DANILO 22:48 6 0/1 2/3     5 5     1     2 1 7
24 VESELY, JAN 31:41 21 9/10   3/5 3 7 10 5 1 3     3 4 32
31 EDDIE, JARELL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
44 DUVERIOGLU, AHMET 11:56 2 1/4     4 2 6           1   4
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 84 23/38 10/18 8/12 9 30 39 23 5 11 2 0 16 18 117
        60.5% 55.6% 66.7%
Head coach: KOKOSKOV, IGOR
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WALKUP, THOMAS 23:22 11 1/4 3/5   1 1 2 2 1       4   7
1 BLAZEVIC, MAREK DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 23:43 12 5/7 0/4 2/5 1   1 2 1 1     2 6 10
10 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 21:51 5 1/3 1/1     3 3 1 2 1     3   5
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 17:30 3 1/2 0/2 1/2 3 4 7 1         1 1 7
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS 3:54     0/2                       -2
23 GEBEN, MARTINAS 5:23 2 1/1                         2
24 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 29:22 4 1/3 0/2 2/2 1 4 5 1 1       2 2 7
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS 22:41 8 1/2 2/5         1   1   1 2 1 2
32 VASTURIA, STEVE 6:20   0/1 0/1                   1   -3
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 32:17 10 2/4 1/6 3/3   2 2 8 2 2   1 2 5 15
77 LAUVERGNE, JOFFREY 13:37 6 3/5   0/1 1 1 2     2     1 1 3
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 61 16/32 7/28 8/13 9 16 25 16 7 7 0 2 18 16 56
        50% 25% 61.5%
Head coach: SCHILLER, MARTIN

Head Coaches

KOKOSKOV, IGOR
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"There is no such thing as a bad win. It was a good win for us. Protecting the paint was our priority and I think defensively we found a way to protect the paint, to keep this team out of the paint. I think the defense led our offense; defensive stops gave us energy, gave us momentum. So we were trying to convert those stops into points. Overall team effort. Everybody came ready to compete, understanding how important the game was for us, protecting the home court. If you’re going to be a playoff team, you have to win at home. We have to be efficient. We have to take care of the ball. I think the games that we played well, we were efficient and in one part of the season, turnovers were our Achilles heel. At the start of the third quarter, we had 4 turnovers in the first 3 minutes and I think we're better than that. We are working too hard to just turn the ball over. We play hard and we need to play smart too."
SCHILLER, MARTIN
Zalgiris Kaunas
Congratulations to Fenerbahce and Igor [Kokoskov] for winning the game. They deserved to win the basketball game. For us as of now, we are struggling at both ends of the floor and the one goes with the other. Struggling to score the basketball which takes the air out of it on the defensive end a little bit. You don’t want this, you don't want to accept this, but both play hand in hand and right now on both ends of the floor we’re not satisfied and it's painful."

Players

VESELY, JAN
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"I made 3 turnovers. But in general, we tried to share the ball and pass to each other, so it's normal to make some mistakes in a 40-minute game. I'm happy with how we played defensively and offensively… Today we showed that if we play our game, we can win easy. This season is weird in a way, a lot of players were out and coming in, but with this win, we have a good chance to make the playoffs."
DE COLO, NANDO
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"We feel great. It's a really important win tonight. I think we really showed a bad example in the Valencia game, we were not ready for this kind of game, like a playoff. But tonight we reacted and this is important for the rest of the season. Jan [Vesely] is a great player. He's more than smart on the court. He understands the game and this makes the difference. You don’t need to show him anything to make a play, so it's why I can make easy assists."
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