The home team used a couple of strong runs to finish both the first and second quarters with margins that Turk Telekom Ankara could never recover from. 

Strong first-half runs boosted Hamburg

Trailing 11-12 midway through the first quarter, Hamburg managed to outscore the guests 16-4 over just 4 minutes to take a 27-14 edge after 10 minutes. Later, when Turk Telekom came within 36-28 in the second, Hamburg punished the visitors with a 13-1 spark that established a 20-point margin, 49-29, less than a minute before halftime. 

Hamburg dominates Turk Telekom to get third straight win, 94-74

Caleb Homesley signed off a terrific all-around performance by tallying 29 points on 7-for-10 three-point shooting, 11 rebounds and 6 assists for a career-high PIR of 45. He was well accompanied by Ray McCallum, who chipped in 21 points and dished 5 assists, and Seth Hinrich and Lukas Meisner, who scored 10 apiece. Anthony Clemmons led the way for Turk Telekom and provided 14 points, 8 assists and 5 steals, while Erdi Gulaslan added 11 points in defeat.

JaJuan Johnson started the visitors with back-to-back fadeaway jumpers to which Maik Kotsar replied to send Hamburg up 8-7. Clemmons connected from downtown to flip the lead again, but Homesley opened fire with a trey and McCallum followed with a pair of them within the same minute as Hamburg opened a 17-12 gap. The visitors fed Octavius Ellis in the paint but couldn't stop Hamburg's offensive firepower as McCallum filled half of a 10-0 run to make it 27-14 after 10 minutes. Meisner and McCallum extended the lead to 33-14 right once the game resumed. Can Ogut and Clemmons trimmed the difference from deep before Aubrey Dawkins and Gulaslan joined in the effort to make it 36-28 midway through the second quarter. Their joy didn't last, though, as Homesley took over with a couple of treys and a fastbreak layup in an 11-0 run that sent Hamburg up big again, 47-28. Meisner made it a 20-point margin with a layup soon after before a buzzer-beating triple by Ogut left a 50-34 halftime score.

Gulaslan came on strong after intermission with back-to-back triples that kept Turk Telekom in the game at 54-40, but within a minute Meisner and Homesley matched him to make it 60-40. The guests tried to react from the perimeter, but no one could match Homesley's impressive accuracy. He strung together his sixth and seventh three-pointers to make 71-45 before a couple of steals allowed the guests to enter the last stanza trailing 73-51. Berk Demir and Ellis combined to get Turk Telekom back within 20 points, 75-56, as Hamburg struggled to score for a while. Hinrichs eventually scored off an offensive rebound to settle the hosts and followed with an assist for Osaro Rich, who nailed his first three-pointer in the competition after just 19 seconds on the court. That was worth an 80-58 margin with still 6 minutes remaining but confirmed the name of the winner. 

Caleb Homesley - Hamburg Towers (Photo Marvin Contessi) - EC21

Caleb Homesley proved again he is one of the most exciting newcomers of this season in the 7Days Eurocup and completed an impressive performance to lead his team to its third win in a row. 

Homesley's magic night set the tone for Hamburg

The American guard flirted with the triple-double by scoring 29 points, grabbing 11 boards, and dishing 6 assists, good for a performance index rating of 45. All of those figures except the assists were highs for Homesley in his rookie EuroCup season. He also showed impressive accuracy from downtown, draining 7 three-pointers in 10 attempts.

Despite having a more than solid long-range shooting display (13-of-31 from three) and dishing 18 assists against Hamburg Towers, the visitors were held to just 74 points and could not recover from a 16-point halftime disadvantage at halftime. 

Triples could not save Turk Telekom

The home team never lost its double-digit margin after that, enjoying a comfortable journey in the second half. Bad shooting inside the arc (44.8%) and 17 turnovers made the difference in this game, as Hamburg exploited the visitors' mistakes to collect 13 steals that turned into 31 points, doubling Turk Telekom's 15 points off turnovers. 

Ray McCallum - Hamburg Towers (Photo Marvin Contessi) - EC21

Controlling the pace and winning on the glass are certain to be among the major keys to this game. Hamburg Towers is one of the top-scoring teams in the EuroCup, but has also allowed the most points (90.6 ppg.).

Keys to victory: Hamburg vs. Turk Telekom

Turk Telekom Ankara has scored the second-fewest points (74.0 ppg.) and is among the best defenses. Both teams have been heavily outrebounded by opponents this season, with Hamburg giving up 7.0 more rebounds per game than it takes in and Turk Telekom allowing 6.0 more. If one of the teams can both control the pace to its liking and lock down the glass, it will be in a good position to win.

Jaylon Brown - Hamburg Towers (photo Trento) - EC21

Two of the most-dangerous perimeter scorers in the competition will square off on Tuesday when Caleb Homesley of Hamburg Towers takes on Turk Telekom Ankara’s Aaron Harrison.

Marquee matchup: Hamburg’s Homesley vs. Turk Telekom’s Harrison

Homesley has enjoyed an explosive first season in the EuroCup with 20.3 points on 43.5% three-point shooting and 3.9 assists, which both lead the team, despite coming off the bench in his first six appearances. Harrison has been worth 16.0 points on 43.8% three-point shooting. Both players use the three-point shot as their weapon of choice, but will blow by defenders who overplay them. How they match up against one another will have a big impact on this game.

Aaron Harrison - Turk Telekom Ankara (photo Trento) - EC21

Hamburg Towers will look to stay hot when it hosts Turk Telekom Ankara on Tuesday in the first game of Round 9.

Hamburg looks to stay hot against Turk Telekom

Hamburg (3-5) won its last two games of 2021, including a Round 7 rout of Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar for its maiden home victory this season. Turk Telekom (5-3) also finished the calendar year with back-to-back victories, including a Round 7 triumph over Dolomiti Energia Trento for its first road win this season. Caleb Homesley is Hamburg's top scorer with 20.3 points per game, which is third-best in the EuroCup. Jalen Brown (15.0 ppg.) and Maik Kotsar (12.4 ppg.) have also played big roles. Aaron Harrison (16.0 ppg.) fuels the Turk Telekom attack alongside JaJuan Johnson (13.3 ppg., 5.5 rpg.).

Caleb Homesley - Hamburg Towers (photo Trento) - EC21

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar guard Errick McCollum is one of the biggest stars in the 7DAYS EuroCup. A former champion and MVP, McCollum is also one of competition's best-ever scorers, both in total points scored and in career average.

Who's Hot: Errick McCollum, Lokomotiv

However, the Lokomotiv guard, who will turn 34 years old later this month, took his game to a whole another level in three games during the month of December. While McCollum earned a pair of MVP of the Round awards, one in Round 6 and the other in Round 8, not even those tell the entire story of how unstoppable he has been.

McCollum had a really good start to the season, ranking fourth with 18.6 points per game after five rounds. He was knocking down 2.2 triples per game and making just below 38% of all of his field goals during that stretch. McCollum was also contributing with 2.6 rebounds and assists, for 16.2 average PIR, ranked 15th in the competition.

Then came month of December during which McCollum exploded, even doubling up on some of his numbers, turning into the most dominant and the most productive player in the competition by quite a margin. Over the last three games, McCollum is averaging 29.7 points per game and scoring a total of 24 points more over that span than the next best player.

He scored at least 27 points in each of three games and has done so by averaging 6.0 two-point shots made on 60.0% shooting and 3.0 triples per game on 56.3% shooting.

But McCollum's scoring is just one part of the story.

After dishing 13 assists over the first five games, McCollum has 20 over the last three games, which is more than all except two players during this stretch. That run included a 13-assist performance in a home win over Dolomiti Energia Trento in Round 6.

The Lokomotiv guard also more than doubled his average in steals, nearly doubled his average in blocks, and even improved on his rebounding.

It all led to McCollum averaging an astounding 35.7 PIR over those three December games, which is one of the best three-game stretches in the history of the competition.

What all that did is move McCollum up the EuroCup's career scoring charts. He now ranks second all-time with 1,404 points, just 90 points behind the all-time leader Bojan Dubljevic. Moreover, McCollum has reached that number in just 80 games played, which ranks him fourth all-time with an average of 17.6 point per game.

McCollum moved up into second place all-time in PIR, as well, with 1,532, while entering Top 10 with a career average of 19.2. He also joined top 25 players all-time in total assists (252) and the top 30 all-time in three-pointers made (123).

McCollum now hopes to carry that momentum into the new calendar year, which Lokomotiv opens on the road at Joventut Badalona in a clash of two teams with league-best 6-2 records.

Dolomiti Energia Trento big man Jordan Caroline’s road to the 7DAYS EuroCup included a stint in Taiwan that helped him recapture his love of the game.

Taiwan experience rekindled Trento forward Caroline's love of the game

Jordan Caroline considers himself a basketball junkie. If there’s a game in Venezuela, Argentina or wherever, he’ll watch it - men’s or women’s hoops. But a year ravaged by injuries began to eat away at his love of the game. Luckily, a season in Taiwan of all places rekindled that passion and now has him dominating in the 7DAYS EuroCup for Dolomiti Energia Trento.

Caroline grew up around sports. Both his father and grandfather played professional American football with major success - both playing in the National Football League.

Caroline himself experienced his fair share of great moments on the hardwood. He helped Montverde Academy to two consecutive United States high school national titles and then guided the University of Nevada Wolf Pack to three consecutive conference championships. The team played in the NCAA Tournament three times and reached the Sweet 16 in 2018.

“The Taiwan opportunity came up, and it was a great opportunity to go and re-find my love for the game of basketball.”

“All that showed me a lot of the effort it takes to prepare, that you need to have to be able to put your level to the next level, especially from a mindset standpoint. At this level, there are a lot of players who can do a lot of the same things, but what really separates you from the rest is the mindset - the way they attack the game, their approach and how they prepare for it,” Caroline explained.

What success does not automatically prepare you for is the mental drain of injuries and dealing with them - especially when they mount up, which is what happened to Caroline.

The Illinois native was signed by the Los Angeles Lakers after he finished college. He was slowed in the NBA Summer League by a left groin tear and then broke his foot in August, just before the NBA training camp started. Caroline was out until December and came back and played about four weeks and then was forced to the sidelines again in late January 2020 with right groin problems.

The COVID-19 pandemic broke out shortly thereafter and paused the entire sports world. Caroline was able to return to the court in June and July 2020, playing seven games for Israeli side Hapoel Eilat and averaging 15.3 points and 9.9 rebounds.

That performance was not enough for Caroline to get a job to start the 2020-21 season. In fact, the calendar had turned to 2021 and the forward was still without a spot.

“It was January and I hadn’t signed anywhere to play, and at that time it was rough with everything going on. It got to the point I didn’t know what I would do,” he said.

Caroline finally would return to the court in March 2021 with Jutai Technology in the Taiwan league. And Caroline dominated the semi-pro league, averaging 28.0 points, 14.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 steals.

“The Taiwan opportunity came up, and it was a great opportunity to go and re-find my love for the game of basketball and really just figure out my skills, to better myself and really just get re-acclimated with the game, especially being hurt the entire year,” he said. “Going there really revitalized my love of basketball.”

Caroline offered only positive words and feelings about his time on the Asian island.

“I loved my team and my teammates. It was one of the best teams I have been on in terms of the guys and the coaches. They were super respectful. it was just a great environment,” Caroline said. “In terms of Taiwan, they love basketball. Everybody knows who you are on the island. It was really fun.”

The time with Jutai also helped Caroline go through the process of setting and attaining goals on the basketball court again.

“My goals over there were to lead the team to the playoffs and lead the league in scoring. Luckily for myself, I accomplished both of them,” he said.

Caroline at the same time downplayed the fact that the Taiwan league is by far not among the best in the world.

“The competition level obviously was not the same. But I think anywhere you go the biggest challenge is really competing with yourself. What can you get out of yourself wherever you’re at.”

Caroline signed with Trento early in the summer of 2021, already penning a deal on June 30. He was looking forward to competing in the EuroCup against some of the great teams in the competition.

“I live for competition at the highest level. Whenever I see teams like Joventut or Partizan or Lokomotiv on my schedule, it raises me to a whole new level. You get so excited. I can’t sleep the night before because I am so excited. I live for stuff like this. I really love playing on this stage.”

“Whenever I see teams like Joventut or Partizan or Lokomotiv on my schedule, it raises me to a whole new level. You get so excited.”

And Caroline has been excelling as well. In seven EuroCup games, he is averaging 13.9 points and leads the competition in rebounding with 8.3 per game- 3.3 from the offensive glass, plus 1.1 assists and 4.6 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 17.6.

“I really just try to play as hard as I can and play to the best of my ability and take each and every opportunity head-on,” said Caroline who has collected three double-doubles and ranks second in offensive rebounds, 13th in PIR and 10th in fouls drawn and free throws attempted.

“You can’t get these opportunities back. And the times we are in right now are difficult - trying to navigate everything. Everything is up in the air. Whenever I get a chance to play in a high-level game, I try to make sure and give my all and get the best out of myself.”

All the while remembering how much he loves the game thanks to his time in Taiwan.

Jordan Caroline - Dolomiti Energia Trento (photo Fedor Aebor - Lokomotiv) - EC21