Turkish League, Playoffs, Semifinals, Game 2: May 19-20, 2008
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Fenerbahce Ulker became the first team reach the Turkish League finals by beating rival Efes Pilsen 82-75 to sweep its best-of-five semifinals, while Turk Telekom took a 2-1 lead in the other series by topping Besiktas ColaTurka 79-74. The defending champs were in control for most of the game, though they needed to hold off a late Efes charge to win and sweep its chief rival in the playoffs for the second straight year. Last season Fener beat Efes 4-0 in the finals. Willie Solomon led Fener with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals and Mirsad Turkcan turned in a double-double with 18 points plus 10 rebounds. Ermal Kuqo had 27 points plus 6 rebounds for Efes in defeat. Meanwhile Khalid El Amin scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Turk Telekom to a tough and important come-from-behind win. Besiktas led by 15 in the second period and by 12 at halftime, but El Amin, Erwin Dudley and Tutku Acik outshined Besiktas in the closing period. Erwin finished with 20 points plus 10 rebounds and Acik scored 10 and dished 10 assists for the winners. Predrag Drobnjak had 20 for Besiktas.
Fenerbahce Ulker became the first team reach the Turkish League finals by beating rival Efes Pilsen 82-75 to sweep its best-of-five semifinals. The home team, playing n front of 6,000 supporters at Abdi Ipekci Arena, started the game with a pair of surprising three-pointers from center Oguz Savas to go ahead 6-2. Ermal Kuqo kept Efes in the game with an effective performance inside and outside and a Kenny Gregory layup plus a free throw put Efes ahead 8-11. But Willie Solomon, Omer Onan and Semih Erden created an 8-2 response to give Fener a 20-18 lead at the end of the first quarter. Gasper Vidmar and Tarence Kinsey joined Solomon and Onan in the second period as Fener started to extend the lead. Midway through the period, A Solomon jumper made it 35-22. Craig Bradshaw and Kerem Gonlum tried to balance the game, but turnovers doomed the visitors and helped Fener increase the lead to 44-27 by halftime. In the third period, Efes increased its defensive pressure and cut the gap to 11 points on a Serkan Erdogan triple. Kuqo continued to score inside too and an Ender Arslan three pointer at the end of the period made it 60-52 heading into the fourth quarter. Efes continued to fight and thanks to Kuqo and Scoonie Penn got within 75-71 with 1:19 left in the game. However Fener came back with Mirsad Turkcan and Semih Erden inside and Emir Preldzic outside to hold on for the win. Solomon led Fener with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals, Turkcan had double-double with 18 points plus 10 rebounds and Semih Erden had 7 points, but grabbed 11 boards. Kuqo had 27 points plus 6 rebounds as the only double-digit scorer for Efes.
Turk Telekom regained home-court advantage by defeating Besiktas ColaTurka 79-74. Khalid El Amin scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half to fire the home team to victory. Besiktas got off to a had a fast start with points from Predrag Drobnjak and Kaya Peker inside, taking an 11-17 lead on Drobnjak’s 10th point. Tutku Acik and Erwin Dudley keyed a 14-4 response as Telekom regained the lead. But Erkan Veyseloglu’s last-second jumper tied the first period score at 25-25. Sandro Nicevic, Mehmet Yagmur and Preston Shumpert points gave a shocking start to the second period as Besiktas took sudden control of the game. A 5-20 charge over six minutes gave Besiktas a 30-45 lead. El Amin took charge of the game to save Telekom, but a Veyseloglu three helped Besiktas head into the dressing rooms up 36-48 at halftime. El Amin and Acik points in the third quarter were met by Nicevic and Drobnjak as Besiktas stayed in front 44-55. Dudley and Kris Lang took charge at the end of the period to bring Telekom within 52-58. El Amin scored a triple at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Besiktas started to feel Telekom on the back of its neck. Two minutes into the fourth, Haluk Yildirim hit a three-pointer to put Telekom ahead 62-61. At the other end, Shumpert missed twice, while El Amin hit another for Telekom. Still a Rick Apodaca jumper and a Drobnjak three put Besiktas ahead once again, 64-66. But critical turnovers and missed shots doomed Besiktas in the last minutes and the decisive points of El Amin in those final minutes gave Turk Telekom the win and the 2-1 series lead. El Amin scored 23 points, Dudley had 20 points plus 10 rebounds and Acik had 10 points plus 10 assists for the winners, while Drobnjak had 20 points, Nicevic 11 and both Apodaca and Shumpert scored 10 each for Besiktas.
| Semifinal Playoffs, best of 5 games |
| Record | Team | Game | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | | 1 | Besiktas C. Turka (1) | L* | 87 | 74 | May 21 | *- | | 2 | Turk Telekom (4) | W* | 77 | 79 | - | - | | 0 | Efes Pilsen (2) | L* | 65 | 75 | x | x | | 3 | Fenerbahce Ulker (3) | W* | 76 | 82 | x | x |
*In Turkey, if one team won both regular season games between them,
their playoff series begins 1-0 in that team's favor.
| Semifinal games | | Game 1 | Besiktas Cola Turka vs. Turk Telekom | 87-77 | May 16 | | Game 1 | Efes Pilsen vs. Fenerbahce Ulker | 65-76 | May 17 | | Game 2 | Turk Telekom vs. Besiktas Cola Turka | 79-74 | May 19 | | Game 2 | Fenerbahce Ulker vs. Efes Pilsen | 82-75 | May 20 | | Game 3 | Turk Telekom vs. Besiktas Cola Turka | - | May 21 | | Game 4 | Besiktas Cola Turka vs. Turk Telekom | - | *- |
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Gökhan Türe, Istanbul
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