Galatasaray Istanbul was (and still cannot be ruled out) the one that all forecasts pointed to as Unicaja’s direct rival for finishing as leader of Group K of the Round of 16 of the Basketball Champions League, completed by AEK Athens and the French Limoges. This Tuesday, after their visit to Málaga had to be postponed due to the earthquake suffered in Turkey, those from Istanbul arrive at the Martín Carpena to play against Unicaja on the third day of the second phase league.
Galatasaray arrives at the Palace in an extreme situation and at its worst moment of the season, after adding eight defeats in its last nine games. And it is that so far in 2023, Galatasaray has lost successively against Konyaspor (76-73), Merkezefendi (83-100), Manisa (85-72), Anadolu Efes (70-80), Pinar Karsiyaka (103- 91), Petkin Sport Kulubo (74-82), Besitkas (85-78) and the European matchday 2 round against AEK Athens (71-81). Only one win in this entire stretch of the new year, against Limoges, 100-73, on January 24. In their League, defeat after defeat since Christmas Eve, a long way away, when they beat Turk Telekom 106-100 in their arena.
Their last defeat came this past Saturday in their domestic competition in the Istanbul derby against Besiktas 85-78. This setback sinks him in the standings to 11th place, with a balance of 7 wins and 12 losses, after 19 days. The Galatasaray are now 9 victories away!! of the two leaders of the table, Fenerbahce and Turk Telekom. In the game this past weekend, the top scorer was an old ACB acquaintance, Dylan Ennis, with 21 points, to which he added 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Russell, with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, also had a great game, as did Kabaca, with 15 points and 7 rebounds.
The truth is that the next rival compositor is missing his great star, Dee Bost, transferred almost two months ago to Asvel Villeurbanne in the Euroleague. The Istanbul team has lost its spark without the North American point guard and proof of this is this bad run of results that have led them to arrive at this appointment in Malaga at a very bad time.
Unicaja will play two games in a row this week against the Turkish team. The first will be this Tuesday at the Carpena, starting at 8:30 p.m., while less than 48 hours later, on Thursday, starting at 6 p.m., Unicaja will visit the Sinan Erden in Istanbul, the Galatasaray court.