Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul is returning to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four for the first time since 2019 with a mix of newcomers and experienced players that pay off in Berlin.
Fenerbahce became the first-ever EuroLeague team to win Game 5 on the road when it defeated AS Monaco in overtime. One of the players making his Final Four debut is Scottie Wilbekin, whose 240th EuroLeague showdown will be the semifinal against Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens.
"I'm not expecting anything easy, but obviously it's just one game so it's going to come down to who's more focused, who limits their mistakes and who who has a better game, ultimately," Wilbekin said.
It will be a special game for head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius and playmaker Nick Calathes, who won respective EuroLeague titles with the Greens in 2009 and 2011. Jasikevicius has a chance to become the first person to win the EuroLeague as player and coach in more than 20 years.
"It's a very special situation considering the past we had together and and, you know, my love for the club and the amounts of people on the other side that I know, from the staff and, and just the amounts of friends over there in Athens," Jasikevicius said. "And at the same time, you have to leave that aside and you have to try to go do your job the best for Fenerbahce. And this is exactly what I will try to do."
"I started my career at Panathinaikos. I was with them for seven years. I won a EuroLeague with them, so going against them, it will be a lot of feelings," Calathes said. "But at the end of the day, we go there to try to win the game and try to win a championship."