Jurica Golemac’s men grabbed a 24-point victory at Fenerbahce in Round 4
Dubai humbles the defending champs and shows it is a team to be feared
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Regular Season
Round 4 of 38
Regular Season
Fenerbahce Beko IstanbulFBB
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Dubai BasketballDUB
Overview
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Last week, it looked like Dubai Basketball had got a dose of reality.
After back-to-back heavy defeats, having lost 86-67 at Olympiacos Piraeus last Friday night after 103-81 at AS Monaco seven days prior, the EuroLeague debutant’s opening-round win at home to Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade already felt a long time ago. That made a Round 4 trip to face Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul – the defending EuroLeague champion – all the more daunting.
Add in the fact that Dubai was without star signing Dzanan Musa and it looked like a near-impossible mission, even if Fenerbahce was having some problems of its own.
The result? An absolute beatdown – with Dubai doing the beating. Led by first-year center Mfiondu Kabengele, the UAE-based side stunned Fenerbahce by triumphing 69-93 on the road, having led by 32 points with just two minutes to go. It really was some spectacle, one that showed the potential of this Dubai side and also the cracks that exist at Fenerbahce.
“They were really focused today. An extremely good reaction after two bad defeats on the road,” said coach Jurica Golemac. “We came here with nothing to lose. The motivation was really high – you’re playing against the current European champion. Through the 40 minutes, I cannot think of one mistake that we did.
“Everybody was focused, everybody helped each other, and we didn’t let them get their rhythm, which is the most important when playing on the road. It’s just one win, of course. We need to be satisfied, but for the future we need to keep going and keep growing.”
From the midway point of the first quarter onwards, it was relatively plain sailing for Dubai. Kabengele was rolling inside, Klemen Prepelic and McKinley Wright were distributing the rock, and Dwayne Bacon and Filip Petrusev kept finding ways to score. At halftime, the 31-46 scoreline was an accurate representation of how the game had gone to that point.
Interestingly, Dubai held Fenerbahce to a season-low 11-point second quarter and its second-lowest first-half tally, just a few days on from the champs’ 30-point first half against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade. Unlike last Friday night, however, Saras Jasikevicius’s men were unable to turn things around after the break.
Coach Golemac’s squad looked so confident in Istanbul and at ease that it was reminiscent of last season’s Paris Basketball side, which had a no-fear approach whenever it went out onto the floor. Even without Musa, or fellow summer addition Aleksa Avramovic, Dubai was able to comfortably stay ahead against Fenerbahce and even build on its first-half display, opening a 20-point and then 30-point gap in the third and fourth quarters.
“It’s a stepping stone,” Kabengele said after the game. “I recognize that it’s a long season. I know for a fact that when Fenerbahce comes to us, they’re going to be even more hungry, so I’m confident. We have another game against Barcelona [on Thursday], so we’ll enjoy today.
“But if we soak in this success, we’ll have a lot of trouble going forward through the season. My goal, after this win, is to build off this. Watch more film, replicate these good habits going forward, and hopefully it continues on with the guys coming back healthy.”
It’s only Round 4, but Dubai is 2-2 and has just notched its first-ever EuroLeague road win. The key will now be to build on this triumph, having set a new benchmark with its stunning performance at the home of the champs.
