Fenerbahce Beko (13-2) suffered their second Turkish League defeat of the season, losing 61-79 (12-21, 26-16, 10-25, 13-17) to Istanbul neighbors Darussafaka (12-4).
Fenerbahce Istanbul / Schedule
Crvena Zvezda Belgrade
Fenerbahce Istanbul
Olympiakos Piraeus
ALBA BerlinAlthough Fenerbahce haven't lived up to expectations in the EuroLeague for the time being, they were still holding a near-perfect 13-1 Turkish League record, leading the standings.
However, Sasa Djordjevic's team, just three days before they host Olympiacos for EuroLeague Round 20, were left way below 88.7 points which are their scoring average at home games. Thanks to an almost immaculate second half which ended up with a partial score of 23-42, Darussafaka got their fifth win in the last six games.
Nando De Colo and Jan Vesely were out with injury, so the hosts relied heavily on DyShawn Pierre, who logged 17 points, and Achille Polonara who produced another 12.
Darussafaka went 8/12 from downtown, and despite trailing 37-38 at halftime, had five players (Caupain, Boone, Pineiro, McCullough, Olaseni) in double digits.
The third quarter allowed the visitors to build a big lead which came up to 14 points (62-48) with ten minutes left. Fener went 4/18 from deep, had some flashes thanks to their rebounding superiority but ultimately failed because of their 27 turnovers.
“I don't think we started the third quarter in the right way," Fenerbahce coach Sasa Djordjevic commented post-game.
"You have to fight a lot in matches like this and I didn't see that in my players tonight. it is not possible to turn the ball over 27 times at this level, you cannot win games this way.
We have been going through a difficult process for two weeks due to injuries and Covid cases. Probably, today's picture is a consequence of the difficult period in which we are now. We had a hard time training for two weeks and therefore we are a different team at the moment.
We are expecting some of our players to come back. I saw that individuality came to the fore in my team this evening in terms of offense. We don't need it. We just have to share the ball better," the Serbian coach stressed.
Fenerbahce Beko: DyShawn Pierre 17 (5/7 FG, 6/ FG, 9 REB), Achille Polonara 12 (3/6 FG, 5/5 FT, 6 REB), Marko Guduric 9 (5 TO), James Birsen 7, Pierria Henry 4 (3 REB, 6 AST, 7 TO).
Darussafaka: Troy Caupain 15 (5/10 FG, 2/3 FT, 5 REB, 7 AST, 4 TO), Nathan Boone 12 (5/6 FG), Isaiah Pineiro 12 (5/13 FG), Douglas McCullough 12, Gabriel Olaseni 11 (6 REB, 4 TO).
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