Fenerbahçe moved into second place in the EuroLeague Top 16 Group F on Friday night, as they pulled off a stunning away win over CSKA Moscow, a team Fener coach Zeljko Obradovic describes as "the best team in Europe."
The win put Fener level with CSKA Moscow in second place, although the Istanbul side has the lead on the tiebreaker. The defeat was not just a statement for Fenerbahçe but also sweet revenge for a gut-wrenching loss at home in the first week of the Top 16.
With former NBA All-Star Andrei Kirilenko returning to CSKA Moscow - with whom he won a EuroLeague MVP award back in 2012 - Fenerbahçe had an even greater hurdle to jump. But the Istanbul side were in imperious form showing a new level of guts and confidence, taking a 10-0 lead in the game before holding off a belligerent CSKA Moscow that did not lie down easily. After the game, coach Obradovic spoke about how the performance as much as the result gave him reason to smile.
"It was a tough and important game," said the Serb. "Before we came here, I said that CSKA now is probably the best team in Europe by the results and the quality of the game. Even this game does not change my opinion; I still think CSKA is the favorite to win the EuroLeague. Something that really satisfies me is the way we played; it does not matter win or loss, I would like to see my team playing like this all the time, to trust in our abilities. In Istanbul both teams had the chance to win the game; now we were luckier. We will continue to fight, and we will see how the Top 16 ends."
A 17-10 first quarter lead - facilitated by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Bogdan Bogdanovic - provided enough of a buffer for Fener to be able to keep CSKA Moscow at bay, although the home side's hot shooting from behind the arc pushed them occasionally into the lead. The two sides were virtually neck and neck for the entire game before Jan Vesely made two huge players down the stretch, nailing an "and-1" before a spectacular put-back dunk, two back-to-back plays that swayed the result in Fener's favor. Elsewhere on Friday, Anadolu Efes sunk to a disappointing loss to Laborol Kutxa Vitoria 87-84 to go joint fourth in Group F, leading Laboral thanks to a tiebreaker.
Fernando San Emeterio, who scored 22 points, and Colton Iverson, who posted 17 points and 11 rebounds, were the star performers for the winners, while Dario Saric scored 18 to lead Efes, but it wasn't enough for the home side.
Coach Dusan Ivkovic had strong words for his team after the game, describing their defensive performance as "terrible."
"We lost the game because we had a terrible defensive performance," said Ivkovic. "It was a very tough game. We started the game terrible. Unexpectedly, we started the game too soft. We let our opponent score 20 easy points in the first half. Laboral Kutxa is one of the best teams on the offensive boards. They grabbed 40 rebounds, including 12 offensive boards. My team did everything to come back in the game. But we failed in the last two minutes. The small details determined the result of the game. We learned a lot from this game. We have to prepare ourselves for the next games with much more motivation."
