One of the most balanced derbies in Turkey: Darussafaka – Turk Telekom
In Round 20 of Turkish Basketball League, Darussafaka will meet Turk Telekom in a game that will put head to head two teams that are in a very good form lately. They came after nice Turkish Cup representations and both teams have the same record in the last 10 games, 7-3. Who will be stronger and get the win?
Darussafaka is currently on 6th position after winning 7 Turkish League games in a row. They came after a Cup final, but they lost it to Fenerbahce 71-74. But the most impressive game for them, came in the Quarterfinals of the competition when they eliminated Anadolu Efes, a very strong candidate to win both Euroleague and National League. In the semifinals, Galatasaray had no chance against them and lost with 85-71. In the big final, everything was balanced until the last minutes when Fener remained calm and focused and took the Cup home. The main scorers for Darussafaka were: Johnny Hamilton (20 points), Bonzie Colson jr (13 points) and Dogus Ozdemiroglu (13 points). The next 7 days for them will be tough with this game on Wednesday, away at Bahcesehir on Saturday and the next Wednesday, they receive the visit of Virtus Bologna in a very big and important match for both teams. Both teams have a 3-2 record after 5 games in Eurocup group and who will win this game will go further.
Turk Telekom played in the Cup at home and their fans helped them to eliminate this year revelation, Pinar Karsiyaka 62-56. But in the semifinals, they were eliminated by the Turkish Cup Winners, Fenerbahce after a very close game. One more time, Obradovic’s men were very patient and focused in the last minutes and the game ended 83-81 for them. Like their opponents, Turk Telekom has a tough schedule, meeting Darussafaka away, Pinar and Besiktas at home in BCL in the next 7 days. They have the chance to go further in the BCL because they face a Besiktas team with only an American player in their roster and with many financial problems. They need to be very focused on how they play these games because each of them is very important and tough.
In their last meeting, Turk Telekom came out victorious thanks to an impressive last quarter, which they won with 25-12. The final score was 85-70 and the main contributors of the team were T.J. Campbell with 18 points and Nick Johnson with 17 points. Is very tough to predict a winner here, so I recommend you to avoid betting on this game, but I suggest to enjoy watching it, it deserves.
Photo: Basketball Champions League
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
