ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - It took them five seasons. It took them rebuilding, new players, arrivals, and departures. Even different coaching philosophies. All this with the same, roaring passion.
But Galatasaray are finally two games away from winning their first-ever Basketball Champions League trophy, as they will debut in the Final Four after sweeping ERA Nymburk in the Quarter-Finals, winning 90-74 on Tuesday.
They became only the third Turkish team to reach the Semi-Finals in nine BCL seasons. Both Banvit and Karsiyaka reached the Final, in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
Turning point
Trying to run away from the ball to come off the screen and deliver his dangerous three-point weapon, Rob Gray earned a trip to the line halfway through the second quarter, with Nymburk up 32-30.
Converting both shots, the former Tofas Bursa offensive standout guard tied at 32-32. From that moment, at 5:24 on the clock in the second, Francesco Tabellini's team never gained back the lead despite getting very close to it midway through the third.
However, Galatasaray hit them with a taste of their own medicine to seal the deal. Tough defense, points from turnovers, up tempo basketball and back-to-back triples by James Palmer Jr put the game out of Nymburk's reach early in the final stanza.
Game hero
What's a better way to celebrate receiving the MVP of the Round of 16 award than taking over the full show?
James Palmer Jr answered the doubters - if there were any - in Game 2, displaying a clutch performance of 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists for the red-and-yellow Turkish powerhouse.
In a game featured by a three-point party, he shot 6-of-10 from the perimeter. Impacting it all in the 90-74 long-awaited victory.
Honorable mention: Will Cummings with 17 points and 5 assists, and Bugrahan Tuncer, 14 points off the bench.
Stats don't lie
Can you win such an important game for your club's history by shooting only 42.3 percent from two (11-of-26), while also committing 23 turnovers? Well, that's what Galatasaray did on Tuesday.
How? By shooting incredibly well from beyond the arc, converting 50.0 percent (11-of-22) of their three-point attempts, and by confirming themselves as the best defensive rebounding team in the whole competition.
Especially thanks to Michael Young (8 points and 8 rebounds) and Angel Delgado (8 points and 7 rebounds), they displayed their supremacy on the defensive glass by winning the battle at the boards 45-25.
Bottom line
Galatasaray proved they learned from their mistakes, entering this best-of-three series with a completely different mentality than the one shown during this season's Regular Season.
Knowing they had to be better than the version of themselves swept by the Czech champions earlier in 2024-25, they played fearlessly and with a winning mentality.
It wasn't easy to come off a 26-point triumph on the road with the pressure of reaching the goal already, but they got the job done in Istanbul.
With that being said, this Galatasaray's exploit must not put dust over Nymburk's marvelous season, returning to the Basketball Champions League in great fashion.
Jaromir Bohacik (15 points), Ondrej Sehnal (14) and Vojtech Hruban (10) led the scoring for the Czech champs.
They said
"In basketball and in sport sometimes you need to accept the result and congratulate your opponents. I believe overall our European campaign was amazing. Right now the pain is too sharp to be able to appreciate and be as proud as we have to be of the journey from Qualifying Rounds and led us to be the 1st seed of the Regular Season and Round of 16, and gained us the respect of the European basketball community. I believe my players, my coaching staff and the whole basketball organization have to be proud of what we were able to achieve." - Francesco Tabellini, ERA Nymburk head coach
"They are a really tough team. They didn't lose many games until now. We knew this and we lost to them here and at theirs, two in a row. We showed really good character on the court in these two games and I'm proud of my teammates and the fans. Everyone knows our fans are the best in Europe." - Goksenin Koksal, Galatasaray
"This is my dream to win this cup as the team captain." - Goksenin Koksal
"We still have two games, but I hope we will get this cup and we will be champions because I think we are the best team in the (Basketball) Champions League." - Goksenin Koksal
"In this round, the Quarter-Finals against Nymburk, I believe we achieved our top performance level and the collaboration, the flow of the game, the way players supported each other, the way they pushed each other and played in harmony on both sides of the court, offense and defense, this is something difficult to achieve. It's like it's our second season together, it's like we played more than 100 games together. If we can keep this performance at the same level and even go further, better, I believe we will win the Basketball Champions League." - Yakup Sekizkok, Galatasaray head coach