The Besiktas big man broke the EuroCup record for offensive rebounds in a season and every one counted to force Game 3 of the semifinals
Delgado led forceful Besiktas show on offensive glass
Stats
3 Mins read
Playoff basketball is often measured by the grittiest, as opposed to the flashiest, statistics.
Yes, the most points always wins a game. But how those points are manufactured often means more in the playoffs. And for Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul, the number that stood out as it pushed its BKT EuroCup Semifinal series to a third and final game was offensive rebounds.
Battling around the basket to collect its own missed shots has been this team's calling card all season, and it was no different as Besiktas wore down Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse for an 82-71 victory in Game 2 before 15,200 leather-lung fans at the Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul.
Besiktas pulled 18 offensive rebounds on Friday, a total that has only been exceeded four times in EuroCup Semifinal games over the last 20 years. But ripping boards and taking names was very much at one with the Besiktas forte throughout the season, when its rebounders led the EuroCup with 13.2 of them on the offensive glass per game.
Friday marked the 17th time that any EuroCup team had 18 or more offensive rebounds this season, and it's no surprise that Besiktas has now done it on six occasions. No other team has done it more than twice.
It's also no surprise that Angel Delgado led the effort with 5, considering he is averaging a double-double of 12.0 points and 10.0 rebounds this season, a remarkable 4.0 of those boards coming on offense. He not only leads the league but is the just the second player ever to average 4.0 or more in 15-plus games in the competition. With his 5 on Friday, Delgado broke the EuroCup record for total offensive boards in a season with 77.
He had plenty of help this time, though. Fellow big man Marko Simonovic and forward Matthew Mitchell each corralled 3 of their team's misses, while four other players had one each. There were also 3 such boards credited as team rebounds. The resulting 15-9 edge for Besiktas in second-chance points amounted to much of their winning margin.
Forcing 17 turnovers on Bourg and using that for a 14-7 advantage in points off turnovers was another gritty statistic that went the way of Besiktas.
All of it was necessary as Besiktas shot just 6 for 27 from the three-point arc (22.2%) and 18 for 31 at the foul line (58.1%), the kind of numbers that usually lose games.
But in the playoffs, grit often wins, and thanks to that grittiness, Besiktas has lived to fight another day.
"We saw in the first half that we were a little more under pressure than Bourg," Besiktas head coach Dusan Alimpijevic said. "Now, this pressure is on their side, and let's see how it will be in France."
A not-so-subtle warning to expect Delgado and co. to be eating glass again in Game 3
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