We have entered the first double match week of the new season in the Euroleague. This week, both of our representatives will play one home and one away. In my article, I mentioned both last week’s derby and this week’s matches.
Fenerbahçe Beko
Fenerbahçe Beko, who won the away game against Efes last week “with the contribution of new players”, made it 2/2 in the Euroleague. Zagars, in particular, made great use of the time Jasikevicius gave him. Khem Birch did a good job in his long rotation. One of the best things Fenerbahçe Beko did in the Efes match was Larkin’s defense. Devon Hall defended Larkin, Efes’ number 1 weapon, very well. When we look at it this way, Fenerbahçe’s ability to get contributions from all its new players was another key point of the match. In Wilbekin’s absence, it is very important for Tarık to return well from his injury for the future. Speaking of injuries… It has become clear that Guduric, who injured his hip in the Yalovaspor match, will not play in the Red Star match. There will definitely be a reinforcement of the short rotation, and it should be made… But I do not think that this reinforcement is very urgent. I think there is a little more time to shoot accurately. This week, Fenerbahçe Beko will first play against Red Star in Ataşehir and then against Alba Berlin away. Considering the absence of Guduric, Tarık’s contribution to outside shooting will be very important.
Anadolu Efes
On the side of our other representative, Anadolu Efes, it is essential to emphasize Oturu’s performance. He made a great start to the season. Coach Tomislav also emphasized that he trained very well physically throughout the summer. On the other hand, the contribution of new transfers is under expectation for now… Nwora, Smits, Stanley Johnson and Poirier. Of course, it is very early days and these may be seen as normal while the players are getting used to the team and Larkin, but the poor performance of these players in the Fenerbahçe Beko match directly led to the defeat. Considering that Willis played an ineffective match, we can even look at Efes’s finishing with a 5-point difference from a positive perspective. After all, will there ever be a match where all of these players will be so ineffective? I don’t think so… There is also the matter of Darius Thompson. In terms of the salary he receives, he is the most criticized player in Efes. However, interestingly, when Thompson was in the game in the Bologna match, Efes had +22 points, and in the Fener match, he had +11 points. I think we will see the reality of this statistic better with the next 2 matches. Anadolu Efes will face Maccabi in Belgrade on Tuesday, and then Olympiacos at home on Friday. There will be 2 very important matches for Efes to stay at the top of the rankings.
