2020-21Regular SeasonRound 6
October 29, 2020 CET: 20:05
Local time: 21:05 MENORA MIVTACHIM ARENA

Fenerbahce bounces back in Tel Aviv

Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul did away with its three-game losing streak by downing Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 65-75 on the road on Thursday. Fenerbahce improved to 3-3 in the standings while Maccabi dropped to 2-4. Ali Muhammed led the winners with 17 points, Nando De Colo added 13 while Jarell Eddie had 11 for Fenerbahce. Scottie Wilbekin paced Maccabi with 23 points, Ante Zizic posted 11 points and 10 rebounds and Chris Jones scored 10 for Maccabi, which led for the best parts of the opening three quarters. Dyshawn Pierre. Muhammed and De Colo made the difference down the stretch.

Dragan Bender got Maccabi going with a three-pointer, which Zizic followed with a put-back layup for a 5-0 lead. Jan Vesely scored down low and De Colo hit a backdoor jumper to bring Fenerbahce within 7-4. Elijah Bryant downed a five-meter shot, igniting a 6-0 run which Wilbekin capped with a reverse layup to boost Maccabi's lead to 13-4. Ahmet Duverioglu rescued the guests with a layup-plus-foul and Eddie struck from downtown, but Wilbekin kept Maccabi in charge, 18-10. Muhammed came off the bench and buried back-to-back triples. Edgaras Ulanovas swished a jumper to bring Fenerbahce within 22-18 after 10 minutes. Jones downed a jumper early in the second quarter, but Muhammed and Melih Mahmutoglu each struck from beyond the arc. Eddie buried a turnaround jumper to give Fenerbahce its first lead, 24-26. Oz Blayzer joined the three-point shootout, starting a 7-0 run that Jones capped with a fastbreak layup that prompted the guests to stop the game at 31-26. De Colo and Vesely stepped up for Fenerbahce and Muhammed buried his fourth triple, but Zizic and Wilbekin kept Maccabi ahead, 38-35, at halftime.

Zizic and Lorenzo Brown exchanged baskets right after the break and Wilbekin restored a 42-37 Maccabi lead. Eddie downed a three-pointer and erased Wilbekin's triple with another shot from downtown. Bryant scored in penetration, but Brown tied it at 47-47. Jones hit a floater and Angelo Caloiaro dunked only to see De Colo and Johnny Hamilton give Fenerbahce the lead, 54-56, after 30 minutes. Muhammed and Mahmutoglou nailed back-to-back three-pointers early in the fourth quarter. Bryant answered from downtown, but Muhammed scored in penetration and Pierre followed a three-point play with a close basket for a 58-69 Fenerbahce lead with under 6 minutes left. Wilbekin tried to change things with 5 quick points, however, Vesely scored down low to make it 63-71. Zizic scored on a tip-in, but De Colo matched that with a jumper that sealed the outcome, 65-73, with a minute to go.

Pivotal performer

Muhammed turned back the clock with a stellar performance, stepping up every time Fenerbahce needed him. He finished the game with 17 points, his most in the EuroLeague since the 2019 playoffs, on 5-of-6 three-point shooting, and a PIR of 15.

Game-changing moment

Fenerbahce started the fourth quarter with a 54-56 lead and quickly found good shots from beyond the arc. Muhammed nailed his fifth from as many attempts and Mahmutoglou buried his second for a 54-62 score. Fenerbahce managed to keep control of the game from that moment until the final buzzer.

Stellar stat

Three-point shots and free throws made the difference in this game. Fenerbahce downed 11 of 22 shots from downtown (50.0%), limiting Maccabi to just 5-of-26 three-point shooting (19.2%). Maccabi made 10 of 15 free throws (66.6%) and Fenerbahce was near-perfect from the foul line, 12 of 13 (92.3%).

Did you know?

Maccabi pulled down 21 offensive rebounds, matching the second-best mark in club history. Maccabi had 22 offensive rebounds in a 90-83 win against Real Madrid on November 9, 2017, and previously had 21 in an 88-79 victory against Panathinaikos OPAP Athens on December 19, 2019.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week. Maccabi visits Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Thursday, November 5. The next day, Fenerbahce hosts Khimki Moscow Region.

Ali Muhammed - Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul - EB20
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; PATERNICO, CARMELO; DIFALLAH, MEHDI
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv22161611
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul18172119
End of Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv22385465
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul18355675
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 BRYANT, ELIJAH 28:14 9 3/9 1/4   1 3 4 4   1   2 3 1 3
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 28:14 23 5/9 2/8 7/7 1 1 2 1 1 3     2 6 18
3 JONES, CHRIS 16:22 10 5/6 0/1     1 1 1 1 1     3   7
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 33:03 2 1/2 0/1     2 2     1     3 2  
5 HUNTER, OTHELLO 18:35 3 1/9 0/1 1/4 6 2 8 1 2 1   1 1 4 3
6 COHEN, SANDY DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 DORSEY, TYLER 23:30 1   0/7 1/2 1 3 4 1         3 3 -2
14 BLAYZER, OZ 7:53 3   1/1     2 2           1   4
17 BENDER, DRAGAN 22:44 3 0/2 1/3   3 2 5 1 1 1     3   2
18 SAHAR, DORI DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
23 ZIZIC, ANTE 21:25 11 5/8   1/2 5 5 10   1 2   1   2 17
25 ATIAS, YONATAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           4 2 6     2         4
Totals 200:00 65 20/45 5/26 10/15 21 23 44 9 6 12 0 4 19 18 56
        44.4% 19.2% 66.7%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
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
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 HAMILTON, JOHNNY 6:04 2 1/2     1 3 4     2         3
4 BROWN, LORENZO 14:23 6 1/3 1/2 1/2   3 3 1 1 2     3 1 3
9 WESTERMANN, LEO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 MAHMUTOGLU, MELIH 17:46 6   2/6     1 1           2   1
19 DE COLO, NANDO 26:36 13 3/6 0/2 7/7 1 1 2 3   2     3 6 14
21 PIERRE, DYSHAWN 15:39 7 2/5 0/1 3/3 1 3 4 1           4 12
24 VESELY, JAN 31:53 8 4/7       4 4 4 1 1 2   1 1 15
31 EDDIE, JARELL 28:25 11 1/1 3/3     3 3 1         3 2 14
32 CANDAN, BERKAY 0:41                              
35 MUHAMMED, ALI 19:11 17 1/5 5/6   1   1 1 2 1     2 2 15
44 DUVERIOGLU, AHMET 10:27 3 1/3   1/1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2   3 2 5
92 ULANOVAS, EDGARAS 28:55 2 1/1 0/2   1 2 3 3   2     1 1 4
Team             3 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 75 15/33 11/22 12/13 6 24 30 15 5 12 4 0 18 19 88
        45.5% 50% 92.3%
Head coach: KOKOSKOV, IGOR

Head Coaches

SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"I think that, today, we didn't play smart. We didn't make good decisions defensively and offensively. Mainly, we lost because of our offense, but I think that also defensively we could have avoided some easy points that they scored. They scored 75 points; this is not a lot, but with 50% for three. I believe that we could have avoided 6-8 of their points, easily. We had problems offensively. We didn't have good ideas on offense. They attacked smart, reading our defense. We started really well the game, doing what we planned, and got a small lead, but that was not enough. And I think that very few times after these first minutes, we attacked as we wanted. We had a lot of options to find a better shot, but didn't have a clean mind to read this. Offensively, we missed some layups, some threes and some free throws. This hurt our belief for the game and at the end, when they got the lead, we didn't have the power to come back. We need to improve, learn how to play better and of course, we need all the players to be ready to play, because the team needs all of its players."
KOKOSKOV, IGOR
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul

"I think we found our edge, our perseverance. This is a tough place to play and this is a tough team to play. We didn't have a good start, but found the way to get back in the game and fight for 40 minutes. Perseverance, that is one of the things that we believe in as a group, and it is a 40-minute game."

"Like we mentioned before the game, we knew it was going to be a very difficult game for us. There is a lot of talent in Maccabi's team. A lot of threats come from its perimeters players, Wilbekin, Dorsey, and also its big guys, Zizic is a dominant player, so we knew we had to bring our best game to give ourselves a chance to win this game. I think that the game plan, overall, was good. We stuck to the game plan, but even putting the game plan on the side, it is about the players and the energy that we brought, especially our second unit, which changed the game. We got a couple of defensive stops and then the energy and the momentum went on our side. That was the crucial part of the game. Again, it is not easy to play at that level for 40 minutes. I think we had some ups and downs, but at the end of the game, our defense was pretty solid. We got our confidence back and our defense in the fourth quarter, I have to mention that, it was a key factor. Still, there are a lot of areas that we have to look at as a squad, as a group, like offensive rebounds. We knew that rebounds was going to be one of the key points tonight and we have to do a better job. The games that we won, we did a solid job rebounding the ball."

Players

WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"The scoring issue is pretty similar to the other games. At times we are struggling to score, which has been the story for us this season. It's never a good feeling to lose, especially this early to have four losses, but we're just trying to get better each day as a team. This is a new group of guys and we are learning each other, trying to take something from each win or loss and build from it."
BENDER, DRAGAN
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"I think we kind of deviated a little bit from the game plan. I think we saw in the first quarter, even in the first half, we played smart on offense and [attacked] the players that are kind of bad defenders in their team, we had a lot of opportunities to go to the basket, especially Scottie [Wilbekin] and Elijah [Bryant], and make easy baskets or pull-ups. We were also able to dig the ball out and have some good shots. In the second half, I think we kind of deviated a little bit from that and tried to play a little bit of more iso, especially when they started switching, and then we kind of collapsed going towards the basket against Vesely. And also, we didn't have very good shots from outside. Obviously, at the end of the game, we missed a couple of important shots and was the key moment."
VESELY, JAN
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"We fought. We didn't start the game as we wanted to, but after that, we changed our game and fought until the end, and that was the key. We fought under the baskets, on defense and offense, and that was the key."
MUHAMMED, ALI
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"Coach, before the game, he prepared us, and he told us to take this game personal, which is why I got on my guys and I told them 'let's get this game personal.' And that's what we did. We came out, played tough, played great defense and we won."
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