Moshe Barda 26/01/2021 10:41
Fenerbahce players in the hall. Before the upheaval (Itzik Belnitsky)
Maccabi Tel Aviv will be hosted tonight (Tuesday) at 20:00 by Fenerbahce as part of another double Euroleague week, as it seeks to create a streak of three victories for the first time this season. The Turkish luxury team seemed to be on the safe path to a total crash according to all predictions when the one who wanted to conquer the Turkish throne definitively and completely was Andulo Zero whom the national champion will meet this coming Thursday.
Almost three months have passed since the same game in Tel Aviv and it is amazing to see how much can be changed in such a short period of time, Andulo continued to shuffle and only recently added Dzanan Musa to its ranks on a long-term contract, but Andulo is a subject for another day (Thursday to be exact). Its rival on the other hand opened its pocket time and time again and both clubs proved beyond a reasonable doubt that even in times of economic crises and epidemics the Turkish teams, like the Russians, are still enriching the continent.
In that October game two players made all the difference. Kokushkov may be missing Nando de Colo who did not play, but it was Ali Muhammad (Bobby Dixon) who came off the bench and Vian Wesley who provided a defensive purpose display that evening on the way to victory. The victory did not take the club on a new path, in fact the team suffered a loss and a defeat here and the record came in the form of two crushing knockouts from Alba Berlin by 26 points and against Zalgiris Kaunas (37 points). In between Fener lost to Milan, but at the end of 15 rounds the balance of the Blue and Yellows from Turkey stood at five wins and ten losses.
Fenner’s main problem was the offensive imbalance. Since Leo Westerman left in one of the more well-publicized transfers to Barcelona, thanks to Thomas Hartl, Alex Perez joined and was injured, it was clear to everyone that Jonathan Hamilton’s time in the team would also come to an end, and he too was replaced by Kyle Okin announced earlier this week. , The numbers and especially the victories column is none other than Marko Godoric.
Of all the changes Kokushkov has made to his squad, for now Godoric is the most significant of them, with whom Fenerbahce has lifted itself, and with him the invincible Turkish team. Marco returned home from the best league in the world and with him the team won six consecutive games that turned a balance of five wins and ten losses into a positive balance of 11 wins versus 10 losses, all while Kokushkov and his players signal that they, on the eve of the 22nd round, have become one of the most dangerous teams on the continent. Godoric along with Wesley and Nando de Colo brought back Fenerbahce of yesteryear, the one who is not afraid to look at her rivals who now lead the Euroleague table in the white of their eyes. Dimitris Itodis defeated CSKA Moscow in the last round on Russian soil without blinking an eye.
The most interesting statistic just before the start of the 23rd meeting between the teams (since 2000) does not lie in the fact that last year Maccabi Tel Aviv won both meetings between the teams, or Fenerbahce won both meetings in the previous season (2018/19). The most interesting statistic is that Yannis Sapropoulos’ team, which is currently ranked 12th in the Euroleague, one place below Fener, is the only team that has a positive basket ratio (+27) that is not in the top eight.
