He had an impressive night against ASVEL in Round 29
Wade Baldwin adds another dimension to this Fenerbahce team
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3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 29 of 34
Group Regular Season
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It has been a stop-start beginning to life at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul for Wade Baldwin, but the 28-year-old is starting to really find his groove once again.
The two-time All-EuroLeague Second Team guard returned from his second hamstring injury in Round 27, but it was in Round 29 that he was able to remind the Fenerbahce fans of what he can offer.
In a 92-82 win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne that guaranteed Fenerbahce a top-10 finish in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings, and therefore a spot in the postseason, Baldwin finished with 15 points, 6 assists and a 20 PIR – all team highs. He also had 2 steals, the joint most with Nicolo Melli, and 4 rebounds. All in all, a solid night.
Curiously, since he got back on the court, all three of the EuroLeague games Baldwin had played had come away from Istanbul. There was the surprise loss at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (94-76), then back-to-back road wins at Paris Basketball (83-87) and EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (76-100), so this was the American’s first time to play in front of Fenerbahce’s fans at Ulker Sport and Event Hall in the EuroLeague since Round 15, back on December 12.
“For me being out for a while, it’s nice to finally play a home-court game in the EuroLeague,” Baldwin told EuroLeague TV after the ASVEL win. “It was good to come out with the win tonight against a tough team.”
The mid-season addition of Errick McCollum has provided another scoring punch to Fenerbahce’s offense, but it is Baldwin who conducts the offensive flow and rhythm. Now that he is back healthy again, he has the ability to make the difference for Saras Jasikevicius’s side.
“I feel like I’m at 100%. I did a good job of taking the time I needed to get back to who I normally am,” Baldwin explained. “It was a struggle obviously in the beginning for me, body just not feeling healthy, but our staff did a tremendous job of getting me back acclimated and the team is doing so well, it was easy for me to fit in.”
Now that Fenerbahce has locked up a postseason berth, the next objective is to lock up one of the top-four seeds for the playoffs.
“We’re striving to be a top-four team for the home court, and that inspires us each week.”