Beşiktaş, Fener play for pride in Euroleague

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Beşiktaş’s Patrick Christopher (R) is defended by Fenerbahçe Ülker’s Bojan Bogdanovic in a league game. AA photo

Beşiktaş hosts defending champion Olympiacos and Fenerbahçe Ülker visits Montepaschi Siena tonight as the two Turkish teams make desperate bids for rare wins in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.

Beşiktaş is one of the two teams without a win in the Top 16 stage with eight defeats in Group F and its’ playoff hopes were completely dashed.

Olympiacos is tied for third place at 5-3 and is on a four-game winning streak. Olympiacos beat Beşiktaş 77-64 behind 18 points from Vassilis Spanoulis when they met in January.

For Fenerbahçe Ülker, the Montepaschi vs. Fenerbahçe Ülker game is also a game where two teams with very different situations clash.

Montepaschi is second in Group F with a 6-2 record while Fenerbahçe ranks seventh at 2-6.

The game will mark the start of life without Simone Pianigiani, who resigned in the wake of a poor Euroleague performance last week. He joined Fenerbahçe from Montepaschi last summer and has now missed the chance to meet his former side as the coach of the Istanbul team.

Also tonight, Barcelona Regal, group leader with a 7-1 record, hosts BC Khimki (5-3) and Caja Laboral (4-4) meets Maccabi Electra (3-5).

In the Group E, Real Madrid, leader with 7-1, takes on Brose Baskets, which is without a win in eight matches.