Bo McCalebb (shown here playing for Macedonia) scored 21 points as Fenerbahce of Turkey defeated the Boston Celtics on Friday in Istanbul.
Attention Celtics Nation.
Your guys just lost to a Turkish team — albeit a good one.
Bo McCalebb, the former University of New Orleans standout whose life outside of the U.S. as a dual Macedonian citizen has been well-chronicled on this site, dominated throughout the game and scored 21 points in Fenerbahce Ulker’s 97-91 victory.
NBA washout Romain Sato scored a team-high 24 points as Fenerbahce led throughout. Doc Rivers held out his starters for the entire fourth quarter.
From Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: It’s a preseason game and it meant nothing, but obviously not the way you want to start. Most notably, the Celtics’ pick-and-roll and at-rim defense was a … how to put this … nightmare, and it’s clear that Fab Melo is every bit the raw rookie we thought he might be. He had some nice blocks but a lot of missed rotations and fell for any pump fake thrown his way. But then, it’s his first NBA preseason game, so not like there’s a lot of worry there. But Jeff Green and Jared Sullinger provided bright spots. Green’s athleticism looked very much in place, as did his conditioning, showing no rust from being gone from the game for a year. Green scored at will and played well in transition. Sullinger gave the savvy play under the basket he was known for in college. He may wind up leading the Celtics in rebound percentage, which isn’t saying much as the C’s looked dreadful on the glass. This game meant nothing to the Celtics, everything to Fenerbahce, and doesn’t tell us much of anything about the Celtics’ season. But it does make for a fun story.
The box score and video highlights are here at NBA.com.
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