By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes was heavily favorited before the start of the series and nothing changed after Game 1. Coach Ergin Ataman’s unit got the 27-point 90-63 win over Real Madrid, which is bang up by injuries, has to live without Anthony Randolph for this season, and is also missing the Argentinian duo of Gabriel Deck and Facundo Campazzo who left for the NBA.
Those are not news, however, it was proven on the court that against a top-form Efes, Real Madrid can’t do much. Sertac Sanli set the tone with 16 points and eight rebounds against mighty Walter Tavares even if Madrid coach Pablo Laso admitted that his player was hurt after 22 minutes of action. “We decided to protect him, I don’t think it’s something big and we will see if he will play in Game 2 in 48 hours”, Laso said.
Sanli and Efes are already thinking about the next step. As the Turkish big man said: “It’s a good thing to start the playoffs with a win like this, but it’s just one game. We need to keep the defense we had in the second and third games and I am sure we will qualify for the Final Four”.
Coach Ergin Ataman added: “The point difference doesn’t matter in the playoffs. Game 2 on Thursday is a totally different affair”.
Rodrigue Beaubois was the top scorer for Anadolu Efes with 19 points, and even without a big night neither from Vasiljie Micic or Shane Larkin, things were simple for the winning side.
Thanks to a stellar third period, Anadolu Efes made things easy. After a close first half (44-40), the hosts, thanks to a partial 18-5 score, made the score 62-45 and never looked back.
Real Madrid trailed by 14 (64-50) to start the last quarter but after one more 13-3 Efes run the score was 77-53 and the game was practically over with six minutes left on the clock.
“Except for the beginning of the game when we gave them a 0-8, the game started with a Real Madrid advantage”, said Ataman. “We played terrible defense in the first 2 minutes. Then we made perfect defense all game. We closed very well to their shots, we didn’t let them play their pick-and-roll easily, we controlled the rebounds and also in the first half, we played our basketball, but missed the open shots. In the second half, we started to make our shots.
“Our first half was solid and we were simply outplayed in the second”, said Laso. “If you can’t be concentrated for 40 minutes against a team like Efes, that’s what happens”.
Tristan Vukcevic made his EuroLeague debut as a starter for Real Madrid and having a 2003-born forward on the floor was the only good bit of news for the “Whites”. Trey Thompkins with just 13 points was the top scorer of the losing side and it remains to be seen what kind of reaction Madrid will have in Game 2 after such a performance.
Photo credit: EuroLeague