By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Shane Larkin was bad to his last season’s self and after a stellar third quarter, Anadolu Efes got the advantage that led to the 86-79 win over Barcelona.
Larkin had a full stat line with 23 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists for a 37 PIR and despite Barcelona’s comeback, Efes managed to close the game the right way.
“I think that he [Shane Larkin] has some special motivation against Barcelona,” said a smiling Vasilije Micic to EuroLeague TV.
After a balanced first half which ended tied at 43, the hosts started the third quarter with a 25-7 run that gave them a 68-50 advantage. Barcelona reacted, they cut the lead to 14 (68-54) by the end of the third and to four (79-75) with less than two minutes left.
As Efes coach Ergin Ataman said: “In the second and third quarters, we played perfect basketball. We found very good assists, and with these assists, we started to score also inside, pick-and-roll, from penetration, spot-up shots, and we got a big advantage. In the last quarter, again, we were tired and stressed because everybody knows that we are not happy with our situation so far in the classification. So we had some stress and made some easy mistakes, refusing to take some shots. That gave them [the chance to] come back in the game but we controlled the last two or three minutes. I think that tonight, we played at the basketball level that we played in the last two years.”
With Larkin and Micic scoring a total of seven crucial points, Efes kept the lead until the end.
The Serb guard had 17 points, Krunoslav Simon added 16, and Bryant Dunston also contributed 12. For the losing side, which once more didn’t use Thomas Heurtel, Nikola Mirotic scored 18 points and Nick Calathes added 15.
“I think we completely lost control of the basketball game in the third quarter. I guess that the halftime speech didn’t help, the two timeouts didn’t help. I am happy about the reaction of the guys to make it a game, to show it like this”, added Barcelona’s coach Sarunas Jasikevicius. Barcelona remains in second place of the standings with an 11-5 record, while Efes is at 8-8.