Saras Jasikevicius's men came out on top in the Istanbul derby on Thursday night
Unselfish Fenerbahce learning its lessons
Άρθρο
3 Χρόνος Ανάγνωσης
Regular Season
Round 2 of 34
Regular Season
Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
7883
Fenerbahce Beko IstanbulFBB
Overview
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With only two games of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season played, it’s inevitable that players across the continent are still finding their feet and teams are very much works in progress.
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul is no exception and – despite advancing to 2-0 with a pair of morale-boosting victories over major rivals Olympiacos Piraeus and Anadolu Efes Istanbul – head coach Saras Jasikevicius was happy to admit his team still has plenty to work on.
After seeing his team grind out a 78-83 victory at local rivals Efes on Thursday night, the hard-nosed Lithuanian boss emphasized that his team’s process of development is only just beginning.
“It’s the best way to learn right now,” he said. “Maybe some of these runs by Efes could be avoided, and it will be a great feeling tomorrow to watch the video and learn from this as a team. Learning with wins is always a little more pleasant.
“We need to learn a lot how we can play so good and then Efes can take us out of the game, but it’s early in the season and it’s nice to take a win like this.”
Jasikevicius certainly had no complaints about the attitude of his players, saying: “We came out with a great mentality and the fighting spirit was there.
“Our second unit basically carried us. They played very simple basketball, they played for one another, they shared the ball, helped each other defensively, made good fouls and really got us the big lead.”
One player who epitomized the effort of that second unit was big man Khem Birch, who came off the bench to show great hustle as he recorded 10 points – going 7 of 7 from the foul line – and grab 8 rebounds, including 5 on the offensive glass, in nearly 27 minutes on the floor.
And the Canadian center expressed the selfless attitude that had been praised by his coach, modestly saying: “I’m not the most gifted offensively but what I bring is energy, rebounding and defense.
“That’s what I did tonight. I give credit to my teammates and also the second unit because we played unselfish.”
Being unselfish, playing with hustle, and learning: it’s Fenerbahce’s early-season recipe for success.