The 34-year-old filled in for injured starter Tyler Dorsey and was instrumental in Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's 83-69 win on Tuesday night.
Nick Calathes rolled back the years with display against Panathinaikos
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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul was dealt a major blow last week when Tyler Dorsey suffered an injury in his team’s narrow defeat at Valencia Basket in Round 2. Just a few days later, head coach Dimitrios Itoudis decided to start veteran point guard Nick Calathes against Panathinaikos Athens, and the 34-year-old managed to pay back his coach’s confidence in him.
After recording 0 points and no assists in 12 minutes across the first two games of the season, Calathes stepped up against his former team and inspired Fenerbahce to an 83-69 victory with his vision on the court. The 2010-11 EuroLeague champion scored 12 points, shooting 3-for-6 (50%) on two-pointers and 2-for-3 (66.7%) from behind the arc. He also collected 4 rebounds and dished 5 assists in just less than 30 minutes on the court.
"Calathes has tons of miles of experience," Itoudis told the post-game press conference. "He’s going to play basketball for a long time. He’s a veteran and can help younger players get some feedback, knowledge, by playing with him and seeing how [he makes] things happen."
Waiting for a chance to shine again
Itoudis went on to stress that Calathes’s experience helped him to bounce back after a slow start to the season, with limited minutes on the court. The Fenerbahce boss was full of praise for his experienced guard.
"It’s also about how he digests the fact that he didn’t play significant minutes in the first two games," Itoudis added. “He comes on, he puts extra effort. I know him well, he knows me well, he knows himself well. He has huge trust in what he can provide to the team and comes on and brings two big performances [against Bahcesehir Koleji in the Turkish League and now Panathinaikos].
"This is also about experience in how to bounce back from moments that you feel that you are falling. But Nick is falling forward, he never falls back."
Praise from Mike James
Several reports indicated in the summer that Calathes was not a part of Itoudis’s plans ahead of the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign. The former Greece international guard was linked with a move to various teams but stayed put, fought for his place in the team and managed to reap the rewards of his hard work on Tuesday night with a mature performance against Panathinaikos.
"Nick make them go honestly," his former teammate Mike James tweeted. "He off set all the scorers on the team and make their job easier."
Now, Calathes will hope to build on this performance when LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne come to town on Thursday night.