Milwaukee Bucks: Ersan Ilyasova stars in Turkey win over Germany

Having recently agreed a deal to return to the Milwaukee Bucks, Ersan Ilyasova starred for the Turkish national team in a win over Germany on Friday.

It won’t be too long until Ersan Ilyasova is back in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform as the team enter training camp, dive into their preseason slate of games, and prepare for the new season, but for now, the 31-year-old has other business to attend to.

Much like the U.S. team, who will be set to resume their own FIBA World Cup qualifying campaign in the coming days, the same applies for national teams throughout Europe.

Ilyasova is one of a number of NBA players who will be suiting up for their national teams over the next week or so, with Turkey prepared to square off with Montenegro and EuroBasket champions Slovenia, on Friday the 14th and Monday the 17th respectively.

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Prior to those essential competitive games, though, the Turkish national team have opted to play in a warm-up competition to aid their preparations.

As a result, the Turks were hosted by the German National Team in Hamburg on Friday night, and left with plenty of reason to feel encouraged about their prospects in their all-important upcoming qualifying games.

With Ilyasova joined by Cedi Osman of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Furkan Korkmaz of the Philadelphia 76ers, Turkey ultimately proved to have too much for the German team, even with Oklahoma City’s Dennis Schröder and Dallas’ Maxi Kleber representing NBA interests for the hosts.

Schröder proved to be the dominant player on the court in putting up 32 points and 14 assists in 30 minutes, yet a complete team performance from Turkey earned them a 100-79 victory as they pulled away to make it a blowout in the fourth quarter.

Ilyasova was crucial to the Turkish charge, chipping in with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes of action.

As is clear from the highlights above, Ilyasova looked remarkably mobile and in great shape as his fingerprints were all over Turkey’s win. Particularly notable was Ilyasova’s unusually high assist total, as he seemed to embrace making the extra pass — something which he’ll certainly have to do within Mike Budenholzer’s Bucks’ offense in the upcoming season.

Osman and Korkmaz were also key for Turkey, chipping in with 20 points and 23 points respectively.

For Ilyasova, the hope will be to continue building on his form and fitness while securing important wins for his national team, before returning to Milwaukee ready to go to work and prepare with the Bucks for the lengthy NBA season ahead.