Regular Season
Round 28 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Motley overshadowed Vesely to lift Fenerbahce past Barcelona
Article
3 Mins read
FC Barcelona center Jan Vesely received a standing ovation from Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul fans before and after a rip-roaring contest between the two sides on Friday evening, as he marked his first return to the Turkish capital since leaving for Spain last summer.
Vesely had spent eight seasons at Fenerbahce and was one of the key players when the club lifted its maiden Turkish Airlines EuroLeague title in 2017, winning a place in the fans’ hearts with his never-say-die attitude.
However, it was the home team’s big man, Johnathan Motley, who earned all the plaudits after a memorable second-half performance which propelled Fenerbahce to an 81-73 victory against Barca in Round 28, keeping alive its hopes of gaining home-court advantage in the post-season.
The 27-year-old Motley, who joined Fenerbahce from Russian side Lokomotiv Kuban last June, emerged as the unlikeliest player of the game after a modest first-half performance, having made little to no impact in 4 minutes on the court. He finished the game pacing his team with 16 points as he fired on all cylinders in the second half, posting 16 points and 3 assists.
“First quarter I was trash, so I had to come back in the second half and help my team win,” a humble Motley said in a flash post-game interview. “It was a team effort. We wanted this game, we needed this game to get back in rhythm and I think we did a good job in the second half."
With Fenerbahce trailing 37-40 at halftime, Motley turned on the heat in the second half as he made the 32-year-old Vesely look like his understudy. Motley used his superior athleticism to devastating effect and garnished a superb individual performance with a pair of slam dunks, as Barca was simply unable to contain him in the paint.
His approach personified a roaring fightback by the hosts, which trailed by 17 points in the opening period, 13-30, when they committed 4 turnovers. Yet, they only had 3 through the next three quarters and their steely defense forced 11 turnovers from Barcelona, with the visitors unable to feed Vesely when the game was starting to slip away.
Despite outplaying his more heralded rival, Motley had all the respect in the world for Vesely after a captivating battle which kept fans on the edge of their seats right down to the wire.
“I am motivated every game, but [Vesely] has a special bond here and I have a big pair of shoes to fill,” said Motley. “I respect what he did, he played with some of my guys and they won the EuroLeague championship together. Hopefully I am doing okay, and I’ll just try to keep building.”
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