ISTANBUL (Türkiye) - The vibes rollercoaster that we all know as Galatasaray may have just taken a turn around the bend and started another ascent.
Like no other club in this competition, Galatasaray have been capable of the type of volatility in performance levels that would give a North Atlantic fisherman wobbly legs.
But at the same time, with every roster this club recruited each year, there has always been the threat of something special on the horizon. On Wednesday night against Unicaja, Yakup Sekizkok's team produced a performance and result that will have made a lot of people wonder if it might just be more than a threat this time.
By the nature of being a rollercoaster, of course, there have been previous highs for Galatasaray in the BCL, but what sets this win above all of those is that it was against an Unicaja team that might be the best we have ever seen in this competition.
And it wasn't just a case of catching Unicaja on a bad night either. Ibon Navarro coached the game well and they had strong performances from Tyson Carter and Kameron Taylor with 14 points each. Tyson Perez put up a BCL career-high 17 points on a 70 percent shooting.
As a team Unicaja shot 52 percent from behind the arc on 27 attempts and a lot of those were big shots in the clutch moments of the fourth quarter.
Galatasary were just better on the night and whilst Unicaja were without David Kravish anchoring them in the paint, Galatasaray were themselves missing Ebuka Izundu and Otis Livingston. So, how were they able to beat the reigning champions?
Let's dive in and take a look.
#1 Winning the paint battle
A quick glance at the boxscore will show you that Galatasaray did a better job of defending the rim in this game. They shot 52 percent from two-point range whilst holding Unicaja to 39 percent shooting inside the arc on just 16 made field goals.
In the paint itself the story was similar, Gala made 20 shots in the paint and missed just 12, whilst Unicaja made only 12 and missed 15.
On the offensive end, Michael Young and Angel Delgado were constant bullies the whole game. To start the first quarter, Young caught two short rolls and dribbled the ball into the paint to make floaters - punishing the defensive coverage with the shot it was designed to allow.
Delgado had 16 points on 50 percent shooting with every attempt bar one coming directly at the rim.
On the defensive end, the clip below offers us the perfect camera angle to see just how willing Galatasaray were to pack the paint and live with shots from elsewhere.
On the nine-second mark, Dylan Osetkowski slips out of the pick-and-roll, breaking Galatasaray's defensive coverage. Just two seconds later there were four bodies in the paint swarming around him.
When the ball was forced back outside to Jonathan Barreiro the effort to chase him off the line forced him to put the ball on the floor and instead of a paint shot or a three-ball from Barreiro, Galatasaray decided to live with a midrange pullup.
#2 Execution
Whilst they were undeniably undermanned without Izundu and Livingston, it's hard to see past the Galatasaray offense somehow looking as balanced and coherent as it has all season.
Cummings, Tyrone Wallace and James Palmer Jr were licensed to create more shots for themselves because they had to, and the likes of Young and Delgado knew they just had to finish plays in the paint.
Galatasaray executed offensively as well as we have seen this season and the video below shows that. Unicaja seemed to have determined that without Livingston in the rotation they could double the ball-handler and force other players to beat them.
The problem for them was that this forced Galatasaray to move the ball and find the open man, time and time again.
If we look at just Delgado, Young, and Samet Geyik - 80, 75, and 100 percent of their shots respectively were assisted. A lot of those were from the second or third pass after an Unicaja double-team on the ball.
#3 Spreading the love
One thing that coach Yakup Sekizkok had to get right and did get right was his rotation. Nine players played more than 10 minutes, making this game look much more like a Play-Offs game, but the outcome of that was he managed to get important contributions from pretty much everyone on his roster.
If you are going to beat the best team in the BCL - and arguably best team ever in the BCL, since they were on an 18-game winning run - you will need to make shots and you will need to make them for 40 minutes.
That's exactly what Sekizkok got from his players. Tyrone Wallace showed everyone why he was brought into this team and had a breakout game with 17 points, hitting big shot after big shot, but also the likes of Bugrahan Tuncer and Samet Geyik hit shots whenever Unicaja looked to try and wrestle control of the game.
And obviously the biggest shot of the game also turned out to be the most decisive.
With the game on the line, James Palmer Jr showed us all why he's #9 in our MVP Race. There's no need to break this one down, just enjoy it for the incredible drama it provided.
Galatasaray now travel to Malaga for the return leg and no matter how well they played to win this one, they will need to find another level altogether to get the win in Spain.
Coach Navarro's team have only lost once at home all season long, against Gran Canaria in the Spanish Liga Endesa, and for the first time since last year's Final Four, this game will present a must-win game for them in the BCL.
As you would expect after a big win, Galatasaray's playcaller Sekizkok was in a bullish mood after the win. In the post-game press conference, he said:
"We have two more games at our home court and one road game against Malaga. If we defend our homecourt and if we can beat Malaga next week, which I believe we will, we will finish the group first and we will qualify from the Round of 16 with a homecourt advantage."
Whether or not he's right about his belief that they can go to Malaga and win is another thing entirely.
However, we can be sure that game on Tuesday, March 11 will be one you don't want to miss.