By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes is back to wins with a bang as they stunned ALBA Berlin on the road to get away with a 90-63 victory in Round 9 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Ergin Ataman’s squad now improves to a 3-6 record ahead of a double-game week where they will face Olympiacos and Monaco.
The reigning champions enjoyed a solid performance in the second period to lead 51-35 at halftime and from that point onwards, there was no turning back, as they retained a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half.
“I’m happy tonight. Finally. So I think all of us, me, the players, everybody understood that it’s time to fight, to play the game, to forget what happened the last three years and to focus on the games. And tonight we played with a good mentality”, commented Ataman after the win.
Vasilije Micic stepped up for Ergin Ataman’s squad with 19 points on 4-to-7 from the three-point line, while he also added 9 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals for a PIR of 28.
“We have a lot of good players starting from the point guard position to the ‘5’ position. We can all take responsibility and in each game, it doesn’t matter who is more responsible. I try to play my best and sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not, but my approach is always to give my maximum”, said the 2021 EuroLeague MVP.
Krunoslav Simon added up to the efforts and had a key presence in the first half, as he exited the game with 18 points, and Tibor Pleiss posted 16 points and 8 rebounds.
Oscar Da Silva paced ALBA with 13 points, while Israel Gonzalez’s squad also picked up 8 points by Ben Lammers, Luke Sikma and Marcus Eriksson. The German side now slips to a 3-6 record, a tie with Efes, and they face Zenit St. Petersburg and UNICS Kazan in Russia next week.
Photo: EuroLeague