Besiktas beats Baskonia 92-84, Alimpijevic on free throws
In his 200th game on the Besiktas bench, coach Dusan Alimpijevic did not blame the referees for Baskonia's 29 first-half free throws: he took the blame himself.
Baskonia shot 29 free throws in the first half, yet Besiktas coach Dusan Alimpijevic did not look for a culprit among the referees after the game. He reached his 200th game on the Besiktas bench in Vitoria on Friday, October 9, and his team won it 92-84 in Round 4 of the EuroLeague.
How did the game in Vitoria unfold?
The hosts went into the break leading 51-49. Baskonia won the second quarter 31-21, the only quarter it took all game. After the interval Besiktas seized the initiative and never gave it back.
Scottie Wilbekin led the visitors with 24 points, while Devon Dotson and Wenyen Gabriel added 14 each. For Baskonia, Chris Duarte scored 23 points, and AJ Lawson and Kenneth Faried had 10 apiece.
What did Alimpijevic say about the defense?
The coach saw the change in the second half, particularly in the final quarter:
“On top of stopping their three-point shooting, we had a good approach and good energy. I am very proud of my players because they wanted to win tonight. You could see they wanted the win. We changed our defensive approach in the second half, especially in the last quarter. I think we gave up only 13 points, we played excellent defense at the end and that was the most important thing.”
The figure of 13 points allowed in the last quarter comes from the coach himself, who hedged it (“I think”), so it should be read as his estimate rather than a verified statistic.
Why did Alimpijevic accept the blame for the free throws?
After the game he said the win could have come more easily had his team not allowed so many trips to the line. He also cleared the referees right away:
“Credit to my players, they did a lot of good things. If we hadn’t had so many free throws against us in the first half, I think we could have reached this win a bit more easily. I’m not saying it has anything to do with the referees, it is completely on us. We led them to having 29 free throws in the first half, I think that’s a EuroLeague record, that’s on us. In the future we have to be smarter when it comes to things like this.”
The claim that this is a EuroLeague record was made by the coach, and we are not confirming it here.
What does this win mean for Besiktas?
Besiktas is a EuroLeague debutant and has two wins and two losses after four rounds. Baskonia has one win and three losses. Alimpijevic described the experience of a new environment this way:
“They are slowly starting to realize that the EuroLeague is a completely different competition, tougher defensively. We are new in this competition and we need time.”
A double round awaits Besiktas next week. It first travels to face Hapoel, then hosts Bayern.
