Fenerbahce (19-12) will aim to bounce back from last week's loss in Milan by overcoming rock-bottom ALBA (5-26) and claiming an eighth straight home win.
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce: 'Transition basketball is always the key against them'
Scottie Wilbekin shined with 20 points when the Turkish team won in Berlin, 82-91, in December, and he is in great form now with an average of 5 three-pointers in the last three games. Partly thanks to Wilbekin, Fener is the second most deadly long-range shooting team in the league with 39.3% of three-pointers converted, so ALBA desperately needs to improve a defense that has allowed its opponents to score at least 80 points in 10 straight games. The German team has lost eight in a row, won only once on the road all season, and has the worst offense in the league with just 76.3 points per game.
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce head coach
"ALBA Berlin is in great shape in the second part of the season. Really playing at a high level especially physically, running great at the fastbreak, shooting a lot of threes. We had the opportunity to win some games in the last one month. Transition basketball is always the key against them. Then, trying to stop the movement and three-point shooting of the guards."
Israel Gonzalez, ALBA head coach
"Fenerbahce is one of the hottest teams in the EuroLeague right now. They hit their threes really well with a rate of 47 percent. Furthermore, they've been playing much better defensively since Jasikevičius took over as head coach. With the passionate Fenerbahce fans in the background, it will be a difficult but also spectacular away game for us."
Johnathan Motley, Fenerbahce player
"Great team. They play fast. We are just looking to protect our home court and do what we are supposed to do."
Justin Bean, ALBA player
"We've built up a lot of momentum in recent weeks, even if that hasn't yet paid off in EuroLeague victories. However, we've been able to keep the last few games against top teams very close. We're on the right track: Our pieces of the puzzle are fitting together better and better on the court. That's why we're going into Friday's game against Fenerbahçe full of hope - even though we know how strong our opponent is playing at the moment."