Have the haters been silenced yet? Big money man Deron Williams topped his 20-point performance of last week in helping lead his Beşiktaş Milangaz past traditional Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahçe Ülker on Sunday, defending home court by a score of 83-78.
The locked-out New Jersey Net went for 21 points on 8-of-14 overall shooting (including 5-of-9 on threes) while dishing five assists and grabbing five rebounds. Marcelus Kemp was also huge in the win with 19 points and Team Turkey/contracted Cleveland Cavalier center Semih Erden added 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
To be fair, Fenerbahçe was most killed by its egregious 7-of-25 line on free shooting, but the troika of Williams, Kemp and Erden has the Eagles looking quite good right about now: Beşiktaş currently sits atop the TBL table in a three-way tie with Euroleague teams Anadolu Efes and Galatasaray; D-Will’s team is also tied for most points scored in league play with Türk Telekom.
Williams’ 7.0 assists per game is good for third-best in the TBL; he trails Darius Washington of Türk Telekom (8.3 apg) and former Beşiktaş/current Karşıyaka guard Mire Dejuan Chatman (8.0 apg). Williams is also third in scoring behind Kemp (23.5 ppg) and Washington (23.0 ppg).
Beşiktaş next plays at 3-1 Mersin on Saturday; the team’s FIBA EuroChallenge bid begins tomorrow in the Netherlands at ZZ Leiden.
Tags: Beşiktaş JK, Besiktas Milangaz, Cleveland Cavaliers, Darius Washington, Deron Williams, Euroleague, Euroleague 2011-12, FIBA EuroChallenge, FIBA EuroChallenge 2011-12, Galatasaray, Galatasaray Medical Park, Marcelus Kemp, Mersin Burykshehir, Mire Dejuan Chatman, NBA, NBA lockout, New Jersey Nets, Pinar Karsiyaka, Semih Erden, TBL, Team Turkey, Turk Telekom Ankara, Turkey, Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, ZZ Leiden

