Some baddish news for D-Will watchers came from Jonathon Givony of Draft Express, however, assessed via tweet after that game that it was “Not a terribly impressive debut from a very out of shape looking Deron Williams in EuroCup qualifiers.”
Though Beşiktaş led by as many as 15 in the game, head coach Ergin Ataman spoke of improvement after this first step into the 2011-12 season. Ataman spoke of “too many mistakes” in the post-game presser, that “we will play better basketball” in the second meeting with Dexia Mons-Hainaut” and that “the team will get better with each passing day.”
Of note – and perhaps an area of concern for Ataman – was the extreme imbalance between starters and bench. The four double-digit scorers were joined by David Hawkins’ nine in accounting for a whopping 76 of Beşiktaş’ 78 points; deploying some nice wordplay, the team’s official ‘site labeled the performance “Beş Kişilik Beşiktaş” (“Five-man Beşiktaş”).
Beşiktaş JK (78): David Hawkins 9 (4 rebounds, 1 assist); Erwin Dudley 13 (10 rebounds, 2 assists); Marcelus Kemp 24 (1 assist); Zoran Erceg 15 (10 rebounds, 2 assists); Deron Williams 15 (2 rebounds, 9 assists); Serhat Çetin 0 (4 rebounds); Adem Ören 2; Barış Hersek 0 (1 rebound); Mehmet Yağmur DNP; Can Akin DNP.
Dexia Mons-Hainaut (70): Shan Foster 3 (1 rebound); Alexandre Libert 2 (3 rebounds); Anthony Slaughter 11 (2 rebounds); Quincy Taylor 12 (6 rebounds, 7 assists); Justin Cage 13 (6 rebounds, 2 assists); Warren Carter 11 (8 rebounds, 4 assists); Ahmad Nivins 12 (3 rebounds); Sebastien Bellin 2 (1 rebound); Sean Singletary 4 (1 assist).
Sadly, no video footage appears to be available online … yet. But rest assured that BiE will be keeping a lookout…