Road masters and the crossing paths: Bursaspor's selfless heroes / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Frutti Extra Bursaspor are getting ready for the final countdown before the biggest game in the club's history: The Eurocup Final against Virtus Segafredo Bologna.

2-pointers this season

54%19,4Points made:19,4Accuracy:54,1%Place in standings:12Record max:25Record min:14Most made 2FGs:Onuralp BitimTeamEuroCupStatisticsSchedule

It is arguably one of the biggest underdog achievements in the entire history of the competition and the Turkish basketball at the club level.

The brand of Virtus does not require any explanations as the sleeping giants of European basketball have been knocking on the door of the EuroLeague to return to the elite level in the continent for a while.

But after last year's setback against UNICS, they still have to pass another gatekeeper with a green jersey: The alligators of Bursa. The team that just shocked Zeljko Obradovic led Partizan, Cedevita Olimpija, and Andorra while playing away from their fans in these knockout games.

Could this story get any better?

But what could be better is to sit and talk with two very important components of this surprising roadrunner team, John Holland and Andrew Andrews, just before the final.

The Biggest Game

Is it fair to say that it's the most important game of your career?Andrew Andrews: Yeah, probably.

This Bologna team that you will play in the final has a lot of stars and EuroLeague caliber players. Your team and you as well played a tremendous game back in Bologna but didn't get to win.Andrew Andrews: I look up at Bologna like I've looked at every team coming in. When I say that, it's not too shorthand Bologna or compare them to other teams. It's just more so the mindset that I have with every team. I respect every team. I respect everybody's players.

For Bologna, I know they are star-studded with a whole bunch of talent. But that's how I see every other team that we played. I think Partizan, Cedevita, and Andorra were similar cases.

John Holland

Team:Frutti Extra BursaPosition:SGAge:33Height:196 cmWeight:93 kgBirth place:New York, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Maybe if it's even unknown names in many people's minds, all these teams had players capable of doing a lot.

John, the story for you is a little bit strange because last year you were playing for UNICS and there was a game to win in Bologna during the EuroCup semi-final series.

So one year circle is complete, and you found yourself in the very same place with a very similar and maybe a bigger challenge against Virtus Bologna. Does that feel strange?John Holland: I feel like I just did this like last year, but it's a tough place to play. They’ve been trying to take this step to go to the EuroLeague for a few years.

We got game plans and everything, I don't think it really matters to us, to be honest. We know we're a good team like all those people are great players, but we're a great team, so all that doesn't really matter.

Don't you talk like between yourselves in the dressing room? These guys have Teodosic, Shengelia, Hackett, Belinelli, Pajola, Weems, and so many other important names.Andrew Andrews: We know all these guys. Actually, I was with Marco Belinelli in the Hornets. So I know what he can do. Kyle Weems, Jaiteh... The list goes on and on.

But this makes you just a little bit more excited to go out and compete. I don't know how the game is going to play out. I like my team versus anybody in the world.

I think that's the chemistry that we have built. And again, there's no pressure. We're just out there playing basketball and trying to compete as hard as we can.

Were there any preferences regarding the opponent in the final?Andrew Andrews: With Klemen Prepelic out for Valencia, I thought Valencia would be better. Just because we beat them and we already figured out a strategy to win.

But I wanted to play Virtus because of the roster that they built. I felt like with the year that we've been having, it could just cap it off by beating a team with this caliber.

But all in all, it didn't really matter who we were going to play. We know that the championship or the final game is going to be an amazing game. An amazing atmosphere, an amazing experience.

John Holland: Honestly, I don't even think it’s about them. Virtus, Andorra, or Cedevita, it doesn't matter. It's about us. That team on the other side of the other jersey is always changing, but the only constant really is us.

Obviously, we got our game plans and everything, but as I say, it doesn’t matter really. What really matters is how we play and how to play a good game against ourselves.

The Road Masters

Obviously, you are the roadrunners of the EuroCup. Round after round, you go somewhere and create a big mess, just not being nice to the host teams, eliminating them, breaking the fans' hearts.

But I heard that Andorra's travel was very laborious and shaky.Andrew Andrews: Yeah, we thought the trip for the Gran Canaria game was bad until we had to go to Andorra.

We had three hours or like hour-and-a-half bus ride from Bursa to Istanbul. Then from there, a four-hour flight to Barcelona, then another three hours to drive to Andorra.

Usually, against the Spanish teams, people talk a lot about the travel. So we got to experience it firsthand just because it's not an easy ride as well.

Everything is just through the mountains, with many curves, twists, and turns. Incredible experience to have, but a tough travel day for sure.

But the game itself was tough as well. What were the thoughts that passed through your mind in the first half when they got a run and the double-digit lead in the first half?Andrew Andrews: Yes, we managed to beat Partizan and Cedevita. Everyone on the outside will look, saying that we should beat Andorra as well. But also, there was this thing: we never beat Gran Canaria or Buducnost in our group, they beat them both.

So they've beat two teams that we haven't beat.

My original thoughts during that tense moments were just to stay calm and composed. I think during the season, we've been in this position before. Teams have jumped out big, or we went up big. We either have come back, or they have come back.

I kind of knew that Andorra had been on the road the last couple of games of EuroCup. We knew they were a good team. Coming in, I expected them to come out with a lot of energy. They also made a lot of shots which helps because we didn't make a lot of the first couple of shots that we took.

We kind of knew that first punch from them was going to be a lot. I was trying to think of ways to settle the game, and I knew we were going to make our run. So just not trying to get too nervous about the run they may have.

John Holland: I feel at that level of basketball, we were not really playing. Meanwhile, Andorra was playing their basketball. So I feel like if we continue just to play, our level will show you no matter who we play again.

I think we continued just to play our game at a certain level, and eventually, we were able to break through, but that was a tough game. You saw our character again.

Things wouldn't go away, or something doesn't go away. We know we stick with it. No matter what, and I think that's just our nature, and I think that's something that coaching instills.

Andrew Andrews: I think our experience throughout the year in the Turkish League and a few EuroCup games kind of prepared us. If a team goes up, you know, we have the ability to fight back.

The same thing happened for us at Bourges at home, where they were up the majority of the game and went up big, but then we fought a way back. The same goes with Valencia and Partizan games.

I mean, we control most of that game, but there's a stretch in the fourth quarter with, I don't know, 30 seconds left. We were down 5. We're kind of used to stay in composed and trying to find a way back.

Does playing games away from your home and fans, after and after, motivate you even more?Andrew Andrews: I hear a lot of criticism about the format and us not playing at home after the regular season. The traveling part of being on the road is a lot, but I think the club did an amazing job. We can go on a few days earlier. So we can kind of practice in the gym and get accustomed to being on the road.

And I think now, at this point, we've played so many games on the road that we kind of know what it takes, what we have to do to give ourselves a shot, whether we're successful or not.

We can't tell before [the game], but we know the formula to give ourselves a chance to be in a good position to learn.

John Holland: I think so. I think we're a close team. I think everybody gets along, and I think we're like like a family, almost. It's special.

Honestly, I love playing on the road because it's like us against the world. You know, everybody in the gym will practically don't want you to win. We had to ruin everybody's [night].

It's kind of fun. It's fun being the underdog. It's fun being the villain a little bit. So I think that's part of something that I enjoy.

The Crossing Paths

Everyone has a particular story in this team. The paths crossed in very unimaginable ways. Andrew, at the beginning of the season, you were actually going to play for Turk Telekom, but it did not work through, you parted ways.

But it was not an end to your days in Turkey, and after a while, you joined Bursa. What happened there? Things could have gone very differently because Turk Telekom now are not in the playoffs, neither in EuroCup nor the Turkish League.Andrew Andrews: It was at the time of pre-season, and my grandma had a stroke. She was given three to five days to live. My grandma and my mom raised me. So with that, I asked the team if I could take a leave of absence for maybe one or two weeks so I can at least be there before my grandma passed.

They declined my request and told me preseason was a little bit more important. So I took the choice to leave the team and go be with my grandma.

In hindsight, I understand the business of basketball. I'm not upset with Turk Telekom. They were doing what was best for them. And I had to do what was best for me. And I ended up in a really good situation.

Maybe if I stayed at Turk Telekom, we would be in the same position. Who knows? I think that's the type of player that I am. I’m grateful that I was able to come to Bursa, and that was really great year.

John, your case is interesting as well. You were a very important part of the team that made it to the EuroCup finals with UNICS. Eventually, the team made it to the EuroLeague, but you did not stay in the team.

It was really surprising that you didn't continue and you were left without a contract for a long time. How does a player like you have a situation like that?John Holland: That's just a situation sometimes in basketball. You sometimes just don't find the right fit. A lot of stuff happens. It is also business. There are a lot of factors, so you don't want to rush into something. And also, I had some personal stuff that I had to take care of.

Eventually, we managed to come to an agreement about me joining the team, but when I returned to UNICS, obviously, there was a war, and then some things happened. So I had to kind of leave again. It's been a crazy journey.

You didn't play basketball for like maybe three months. How did you spend that time?John Holland: I'm a professional. I just worked out, enjoying home and being around my family and friends. I went back to New York in the Bronx. So I was just in there, chilling.

How did you end up with the decision to join Bursa?John Holland: To be honest, I really had no idea how Bursa was. I knew they were in a good position and had a possibility to make the EuroCup playoffs.

And when I got here, I saw the team, and I saw how good everybody was. I am just glad and grateful that I could be a part of it because, obviously, they already had some great chemistry to put my little piece of the puzzle. I was just able to add to it.

John, you're being humble. Actually, you turned the fate of this team. Agreed, this team was already good before February. But when you joined them, it made them complete. So, let's make that clear, and it's very clear, I believe.John Holland: I'm glad I can help. I think that's just guys that want to win guys that they go about it right away, it was easy to come in.

It's not my first time playing in Turkey. So I played against fellow Puerto Rican Carlos Arroyo (playing for Galatasaray) the first time I was in Turkey while I was playing for Besiktas. He was a legend already out here.

THE Hero who does not need to be THE Guy

Andrew, you had some very good seasons back in your college days for Washington and then stepped up for Best Balikesir, Buyukcekmece, and Darussafaka in your earlier days in Turkey.

But among all, this was your career year, right? You have 13 games with 20+ points in five of them, you had 5+ assists. Can we say that?Andrew Andrews: It's kind of weird because this season has been mixed up into two completely different halves.

I went from 4-5 points per game in the first half to almost 24 points a game in the second one.

It's hard to rank this year because I've been in Buyukcekmece, where I led the Turkish league in scoring. In Darussafaka, I averaged 18 points per game in the Champions League, shooting like 60 percent from three and also taking the team to the domestic playoffs.

But we didn't advance from the Champions League groups.

I put this Bursa year high up there. This is because of the way that I responded to everything that I kind of went through during the year after my grandma passed.

Well said. After Allerik for Freeman went to CSKA, your role and numbers grew. Did you feel a little bit behind the shadows when he was there playing, and after him, you found some gap to express yourself?Andrew Andrews: Allerik is one of my really good friends. So I did not feel behind the shadows when he was here. But remember: I also joined the team late.

After the Telekom situation and when my grandma passed, I was back in the States and stayed there for maybe a month and a half, almost two months.

I joined person Bursa basically right before the Besiktas game. They had already played one or two regular-season games, so I was left behind the curve. The team already had its roles. In my job as a professional, I just wanted to come in to try and fit in whatever the team needed at that time.

There was already the leading scorer, averaging 20 points a game. Allerik had already kind of established his place in the ranking of the team. I was just coming in there to try and help the team win.

So I took on the role of like trying to be one of the better defenders on the team, being the guy to get the ball moving and swinging the ball. So I wanted to come in and really just show that I'm a team player and I can play a different role.

The coach knew what I was capable of, and he saw it in practice as well. I wanted to step up to the challenge.

Which game is your favorite? The 37-point game against Virtus where you lost, or the Partizan game, in which you went nuclear towards the end, finishing with 24 points and 10 assists.Andrew Andrews: Probably Partizan and Valencia (23 pts) close second. Beating Valencia at home was big, but I'll probably go with the Partizan just because the atmosphere was wild, it was against the coach Obradovic.

That was my chance to show, not only the fans there, but every European club in the world, what I'm capable of doing as the type of player that I am.

Not only did I show what I can do scoring the ball, but I also showed that I'm a really good passer. I can make every read on the floor. I can rebound when needed.

Also, I showed that I'm capable defensively of guarding the best player and still have the output that I did. So I think as far as putting together a complete game on one of the biggest stages in Europe, I can check that off my list.

The Last Timeout against Partizan

What did you talk about in that last timeout? Everybody was expecting you to take the ball and shoot it, but instead, it was John Holland.Andrew Andrews: You can see right before the timeout, I kind of look towards the bench, and I call the play.

And I don't know what this is going to come out, but I go tell the coach to kind of run this play because we haven't run it too much. We didn't run it all the way through, and that play has multiple options.

You can't just single out one person with that play. John's one of the best shooters that I've seen. Coach knew that, and he was going to come off and be that first option. If nothing was there, you can kind of see in the clip I was coming off next.

This is the basketball understanding of our team dynamic: In order to be the hero, you do not have to be the guy all the time. Everyone kind of has to flourish at certain points.

There are going to be moments that are going to belong to somebody else. And that's the beauty of a team.

John Holland: Coach said, 'Come on, shoot it, finish it.' I felt like he had confidence in me to take the shot, and my teammates had confidence in me, and it was just one of those things. I always believe in myself.

I think it's just a situation where I have full confidence in myself to make the shot.

You like the big shots, right? It was the same as other games, the Valencia game, the Gaziantep game, and many more. Can we call you Big Shot John?John Holland: I mean, I feel like I can make these shots. I have a problem because I feel like I can make every shot. But I think we just have a good team that trusts people to make the right plays, and we can go down the line of great players on this team.

Take Onuralp: He's so young, and he's probably the best Turkish player in the county now.

David Dudzinski just does an amazing job every day and just is so solid and underappreciated for everything that he really brings to the team.

Kevarious Hayes plays an important role for us. He's like, he's vital, and obviously Derek Needham, Metin Turen, and Omer Utku Al.

We have so many weapons, and we use them and all the ways that we can beat our opponents. They don't know which one we will be using. Everybody plays a place apart, even people that you don't see, playing a huge part in our team.

I think it's a special group, a real special group. And I think we were showing just how good we really are. It's not just me. It’s us like we played, we played a good type of basketball, I think that is the secret for us.

Which part did you have more satisfaction with? Hitting that shot or defending Kevin Punter in the defense back because they had one shot in that Partizan game?John Holland: I really enjoyed defending Kevin Punter because he's from around my neighborhood, from the Bronx. So that was fun.

But I gotta be honest. It was really fun, hitting the shot and silence like 19,000 thousand people. That was pretty cool.

The Pit bull Saga

What about John Holland's Pitbull antics. Did you talk about that in the dressing room? Where did it come from?Andrew Andrews: Honestly, after the Partizan game, I had a doping test. So I missed the whole celebration, I missed everything.

I didn't find out what happened or anything. Anything about it until I was on the bus, and I'm like, what is everybody talking about? So they showed me the interview, and I just really started laughing because that's who John is.

John Holland: I was listening to a DMX song a little while before the game, I think. And there was a little interlude talking about dogs and pit bulls.

I guess that was just stuck in my head, and I'm an emotional guy. So during the interview, it was just still in my head, and that's how I was feeling. And obviously, we were up big, and I felt like we were playing well.

I don't play, I feel like we are dogs. We are playing like dogs, and we were we're getting after it.

That’s just how I felt, and that's how I still feel. I think we are the type of team that's going to play hard and play together. We were going to be dogs out there, and this is how I felt. We came out there, and we came out hungry.

Andrew Andrews: I really just started laughing because that's who John is. He has brought so much charisma, personality, excitement, spirit, and energy to the team. That interview doesn't surprise me, not one bit.

How about Andrew, John? How can you define him?John Holland: He's just a leader. He obviously is an amazing, great player. He has a very high basketball IQ, and he just knows the game.

He brings so much force to both ends of the court. He could shoot. He can pass, he could dribble he can score, you know that he can do it all. All of this make him really special and one of the best players in the EuroCup this season.

The Coach and The Fans

How about the coach Alimpijevic, the coach of the year in the EuroCup? Obviously, he is among the prominent builders of this team, but what does he do differently?Andrew Andrews: Honestly, he just allowed me to believe in being myself. Once Allerik left, even kind of beforehand. We had a few different meetings where he would just tell me: 'I know the player you are, I've seen who you are. I believe in who you are.'

He challenged me to be that guy to show Europe who I am. So I think for me, the best thing he did was trust me and allow me to be the player I'm capable of being.

Sometimes, this is not seen in Europe, especially at clubs trying to accomplish things. It is usually a coach who has offensive philosophies and has a certain strategy that usually comes with entitlement and ego.

Alimpijevic has been completely egoless in this process, and he turned not only me but just the entire team into being less ego-driven players and more of a team, which is why I think you've seen the shift in the year that we've seen.

Everyone kind of dropped their ego and was doing what was best for the team.

John Holland: Also, he is still so young, a young legend in the making. He's a great coach. He can manage players, he can manage people, and I think he's just going to get even better.

He's only 36. You see how much he can achieve. And, you know, he's amazing.

John, this one is for you. You played for Besiktas, and obviously, they have great fans, too, but it seems like you have a special connection with Bursa fans?John Holland: Honestly, since I got here, these Bursa fans have been amazing. I've never really seen anything like this. The way they supported us and supported the team and the way they waited for us after the games at the airport were great.

They really show a lot of support for us, and I'm grateful to them. They gave us a lot, especially at home. When you see the games are full and like everybody's chanting, cheering, and supporting us through whatever.

So like I gotta say: Bursa fans are probably the best in Turkey.

Wednesday evening, at 20.30 CET, Frutti Extra Bursaspor will try to become the third team to win the EuroCup from Turkey, after Galatasaray, under the leadership of Ergin Ataman, clinched the title in 2016 and David Blatt's Darussafaka won the competition in 2018.

Besides, it is not a secret that EuroCup is an underdog-friendly environment. In 2004, Hapoel Jerusalem became the champions against Real Madrid, as Lietuvos Rytas did in 2009, and Unicaja Malaga won an unlikely glory in the 2017 final series.

But if Frutti Extra Bursaspor becomes triumphant in Bologna, the history books won't hesitate to label this version as the greatest surprise of all times in EuroCup.

How far a team's heart can take as selfless and ambitious as Bursaspor? We are just about to learn.

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