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Efes and Fenerbahce clash for the 128th time!

Efes Pilsen are significantly more successful in head-to-head games so far, but Fenerbahce won the last four. It's a game that offers quite a few interesting match-ups and it's a clash between two renowned Serbian experts Ivkovic and Obradovic. Efes acquired Huertel, but he's not joining until Monday, while Fenerbahce allegedly want Zisis

Spectators at Abdi Pekci arena today are to watch the derby match between bitter Istanbul rivals Efes and Fenerbahce. Both teams are in high spirits and this could turn out to be a good game, even though some o their last meetings weren't that interesting result-wise. Fenerbahce won the last four regardless of the venue, which will only create extra motivation for Efes.

Efes won two straight games (all competitions), and three straight league games. They lost only to Real in the Euroleague meeting in Madrid, but haven't been defeated in TBL for three weeks - Banvit game on December 7th was their last defeat.

Efes' last win was the one over Darussafaka, the most pleasant surprise of this season, home. It was a very tough game, with Efes barely claiming the win, which is not all that surprising given visitors' form. Ivkovic's team got a bit lucky after being 5 points down with only 3 minutes on the clock to go on a 7-0 run and take the lead. Darussafaka soon started scoring to take the lead again, Efes got back and things went like that up until 17 seconds before the end, when Balbay recorded a steal, got the ball to Saric and the Croatian player scored with 10 seconds on the clock for what turned out to be the winning shot since Efes managed to prevent the opponents from scoring in their last attempt.

- It was a tough game for us, the third one in six days. We traveled to Madrid, then Konyaspor and then met Darussafaka home. We're trying to control how much energy our players use and how tired they get but that's not easy. We opened the game badly, they got ahead, but as the time went by we started fighting for the ball but still couldn't create that balance in the game. Back court was great, front court not so much. We managed to prove how tough we are mentally regardless - Ivkovic said. Perpereglou and Janning lead his offense with 3 and 5 three pointers.

Saric finished with only 4 points and 2-for-7 from the floor, and added 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Lasme recorded only 6 points, Bjelica was not in the game, and Krstic spent 11 minutes on the court after the injury to not score a single out of his three shots. Both Perperoglou and Krstic were in doubt for that match, but both played in the end, while Bjelica, who was supposed to play, missed it but only because of the foreigners rule. He's supposed to be back today.

The greatest news ahead of the derby match with Femerbahce is Efes's acquisition of former Kutxa's point guard Huertel. But, the Frenchman is to join the team on Monday, when he's set to sign a 2,5-year deal.

If Efes are in high spirits because of goo results, what are Fenerbahce then? They won the last five games and 14 out of the last 15, recording their only defeat in the away game with Usak. The shocking slip dates back to December 7th and clearly served Fenerbahce as a wake-up call. They are on a five-game winning run since, combining wins in the Turkish league  (Banvit, Eskisehirspor, Selcuk) and in Euroleague (Barcelona away, Bayern home).

Fenerbahce met Selcuk three days ago to settle the game after the first 10 minutes. They won the first quarter 28-12 but didn't stop trying. With 50 scored points and only 22 conceded, their lead went up to 28 points at half time, making the second half a cruise towards the win.

Obradovic didn't push his best players much even though Goudelock spent 25 minutes in the game only because of his poor shooting efficiency. He went 6-for-9 to finish with 16 points, but no other player spent more than 20 minutes in the game. Bogdanovic added 10 points and 6 assists in 20 minutes, Sipahi two points. Vesely and Prledzic spent 19 minutes on the floor, but the bench had a good chance, with Bjelica using it best to finish with 16 points in 16 minutes.

Obradovic didn't have a center on the floor against Selcuk, going with Vesely at position five and Prledzic at four. That won't work against Efes since the have Lasme, Krstic, Saric and Bjelica. Fenerbahce will put Erden, Zoric, and Savas against them at position five, and maybe Bjelica at four.

This is a clash of two different styles - Fenerbahce prefer more offense-oriented game that results in more points, while Efes like a tougher game, which means Janning and Perperoglou will have a massive role in trying to stop Fenerbahces' gunners Goudelock and Bogdanovic.

- I've never played Efes before, but I'm ready for it. They are a very good team defense-wise - Goudelock said.

It's also a clash between two renowned Serbian basketball experts Ivkovic and Obradovic. They are set to face each other for the first time even in the Turkish league, while their teams already met 127 times. Efes are more successful with 78 wins. 

Efes don't seem to be the only team acquiring new players these days. Eurohoops claims Fenerbahche are negotiating Zisis' move from UNICS.

Fenerbahce might be regarded as an offense-oriented team that easily score points, but I don't think they will be able to go over the margin here. Efes are extremely tough in defense and since not being great in offense, will try to slow the pace as much as possible here since their chances get bigger in a less productive game. I expect a tactical war between two Serbian experts and this pick is backed by stats as well. Granted, Fenerbahce had much more overs than under at this margin, but we need to know whom they played to end in overs - teams that couldn't put up a fight against Fenerbahce . Their away game with Usak, the one with Karsiyaka, Panathinaikos, Turk Telekom were all unders. Out of all those teams, only PAO's defense is close to Efes'. Fenerbahce's game in Milan ended at 80 and against Barcelona at 82 points, but check this out - Efes have not conceded more than 76 in any off the home games this season, having limited Real to 73 and Sassari to 62 points. They have only two overs (in friendly matches)(Olympiacos scored 79, Union Olimpija 81). Derby match, battle for top spot, and the last five head-to-head games that ended at 71, 73, 76, 67, and 69 points...those are the reasons.