Fenerbahce – Armani Milano
Euroleague Round 1
Istanbul, October 6, 19:45 CET
Turkey's Fenerbahce, the former European champion, has an excellent opportunity at the start of the Euroleague season against one of the continent's best teams, Armani Milano, which has yet to reach the desired form.
From the first preparatory matches at the beginning of September, the Fenerbahce team played impressively in attack. The team achieved six victories in eight matches, and scored at least 75 points in each one. Especially impressive was the edition against the mighty Greek Panathinaikos in a 79:66 victory in mid-September.
Since then, the Istanbul team has played offensively more dominantly with more focus on quick attacks. Thus, in each of the last four games, Fenerbahce managed to score at least 82 points. In the last one, the victory over Cagdas Bodrum Spor 95:58 in the Turkish Super League (October 1), it was clearly seen that this is a team that has reached the desired form at the right moment. At the same time, some of the key players are not burdened with a lot of minutes - because the focus is completely on a good start in the Euroleague.
Armani Milano, the Italian champions and the team of the legendary coach Ettore Messina, on the other hand, failed to reach the desired level of quality defense in the previous weeks. The last two games are an obvious example. Last weekend at the start of the Italian Serie A, Treviso was defeated 86:80, much harder than expected. Before that, in the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup, the big rival Virtus Bologna almost routinely won against Armani – 78:73.
It is now certain that the match will be played in a rhythm that suits the Fenerbahce team better - with a more efficient transition game and shorter attacks. The result will be a higher number of shots and of course a higher number of points, certainly more than 150 and almost certainly over 160 in the match.
In March of this year, Armani Milano managed to win in Istanbul 82:75. However, that was the moment when the Italian club entered a period of exceptional form, and Fenerbahce was in decline at that time. Now this is not the case and the home team has a better chance of winning.
During the summer, the Turkish club made an excellent move by bringing young Israeli playmaker Madar from Partizan, and American shooting guard and Greek national team player Dorsey is an extremely reliable option in attack. Excellent American athletes Motley and Hayes-Davis are dominant under the hoop. The experience of stars like guards Wilbekin and Calathes, and Sanli and Papagiannis in the center position, is extremely important. It seems that at this moment Fenerbahce has 12 players who can successfully play at the top Euroleague level.
On the other hand, the Armani Milano team has yet to find the right way to fit the famous power forward Mirotic, a big addition during the summer, into the game system of coach Messina. Also, the question is whether German Maodo Lo, who arrived in the previous weeks, is the right solution at the playmaker position. Experienced Canadian Kevin Pangos needs to show if he is ready to play in the top form he showed in the same playmaker position two years ago.
With a wider range of options in the rotation and the fact that they are playing on their home court, Fenerbahce is expected to impose a fast pace on offense for a game that suits the Turkish team - and a lot of scored points.