Sestina shined to help Turk Telekom go top of Group B
Nathan Sestina might be a new name for some 7DAYS EuroCup fans, but the first-year Turk Telekom Ankara forward is quickly making a name for himself in the competition. In his second start of the season on Tuesday evening, the 25-year-old scored a team-high 20 points as Turk Telekom blew out the London Lions 102-74 to go top of the Group B standings.
Not only were his shooting percentages impressive – he went 4-of-6 on two-pointers (66.7%), 3-of-8 from deep (37.5%) and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line (100.0%) – but he also stood out with his overall energy and hustle. Sestina finished the game with just 2 rebounds, his lowest tally of the season, but he recorded 3 steals and made life incredibly difficult for London with his constant movement on offense.
It was a memorable night for Sestina, who set personal bests for PIR (20), points scored (20) and steals (3), yet the thing that will delight him most is the fact that his team now sits atop the rest in Group B. Speaking after the win against London, he recognized that the faith placed in him by his teammates and Turk Telekom's coaching staff is paying dividends:
"Individually [I succeeded tonight by] just trusting what I do each day and having the belief from the coaching staff and my teammates as well. They all believe in me and pump me up before the game. As a team, [we succeeded by] executing what Coach wants from start to finish. We had a bad first half last week, so we had to make sure that didn’t let that happen this week and just execute what Coach needs."
Sestina is averaging 11.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and a PIR of 10.8 in the opening eight games of the season, and if he continues to perform like he did on Tuesday night at Ankara Spor Salonu, he could play a decisive role in what should be a deep run for Turk Telekom in this year's EuroCup.