The Group B winner will square off against a historically dangerous upset-monger
Semifinals breakdown: Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse vs. Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul
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BKT EuroCup semifinalists Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse and Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul both took different paths to reach this stage and now they are each two wins shy of playing for the trophy. Bourg, which finished atop Group B in the regular season with a 14-4 record, knocked off a semifinalist from the season before, Prometey Slobozhanske, 95-82 in the quarterfinals last week. Besiktas, which was sixth in Group A with a 9-9 mark, knocked out defending champion Dreamland Gran Canaria 78-80 in the eighthfinals before rallying past Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv 89-94 in the quarters. Bourg will host Game 1 of the best-of-three series on Tuesday, March 26, with Game 2 set for Istanbul three days later. Game 3, if needed, will return to Bourg’s Ekinox on Wednesday, April 3.
The upset kings
There has never been anything quite like what Coach Dusan Alimpijevic and point guard Derek Needham have done together. Over the last three seasons, since the introduction of the single-game elimination formats from the eighthfinals, the coach and point guard have together won five of their six games. The rest of the EuroCup together has gone 7-25.
They began their run with Frutti Extra Bursaspor in 2022, when they upset Partizan Belgrade, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and MoraBanc Andorra en route to the EuroCup Final, where Bursaspor fell to Virtus Segafredo Bologna. This season the duo came together to Besiktas and have already won two more games on the road.
Bourg is by no means a slouch at home. It won its first seven home games this season and is 9-1 at Ekinox thus far, but no one in competition history has made the home-court advantage a mockery quite like Alimpijevic and Needham.
Besiktas’s French (League) Connection
Besiktas scorer Jonah Mathews made his EuroLeague debut last season in France with LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, where he was a teammate of Bourg forward Zaccharie Risacher. Besiktas guard Kyle Allman and forward Matt Mitchell also played in the French League last season. Allman suited up for Paris Basketball and Mitchell was with Strasbourg. Needham also has a history in the French League (AS Monaco, 2018-19).
On the other side, Bourg guard Bryce Brown’s first stop in Europe was with Besiktas, though it proved to be a short one. He started last season with Besiktas and averaged 9.5 points and 3 rebounds in a pair of Turkish League games before they parted ways. Brown resurfaced in Poland where he was MVP of the finals with Wilki Morskie Szczecin before joining Bourg over the summer. Youngsters Yagiz Aksu and Samet Yigitoglu are the only remaining Besiktas players from Brown’s brief spell at the club.
Key stats – rebounds and threes
Despite all that went well for Bourg this season, the club has been outrebounded on average by 2.4 boards per game. It has allowed an average of 11.6 offensive rebounds per game, which is fifth most in the EuroCup. In contrast, Besiktas has outrebounded its opponents by 1.6 rebounds per game and leads the competition with 13.5 offensive boards per outing. Angel Delgado leads all players with 3.8 offensive rebounds and is second in the EuroCup with 9.7 rebounds per game. While Bourg’s top board-getter, Kevin Kokila (4.6 rpg.) only has one game with 9 rebounds this season, Delgado has nine double-doubles.
Bourg has impressed this season on the perimeter with its three-point shooting and its ability to stop opponents from making triples. The French squad’s 39.2% accuracy from deep is fourth-best in the EuroCup led by teenage sensation Risacher’s 53.3%, which is third-best in the EuroCup. The long arms of Risacher are among the reasons that Bourg boasts the best defensive three-point shooting allowed, with opponents making a EuroCup-low 29.2% of their triples. Besiktas is last in three-point shooting at 31.6%, though it rose to the occasion in the quarterfinals when as a team it shot 13 for 29 (44.8%) with Mathews and Needham sinking 4 each. Besiktas will seek a similar display against Bourg’s staunch defense.