By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Dominating the fourth quarter, Anadolu Efes gets the win, 87-72, versus Bitci Baskonia Tuesday.
Vasilije Micic was the top performer racking 24 points behind 8/13 field goals, including three triples. Four rebounds, four assists, and two steals were additionally featured on his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 15 stat sheet.
“The key moment was the beginning of the game. Even though we didn’t play well offensively, we set the tone defensively. Every player was aggressive and remained aggressive the whole game. And that was the key today,” said Micic, “Offensively we can always find some way to score, but defensively we decide the games.”
“We didn’t play well tonight on offense,” explained head coach Ergin Ataman, “We missed a lot of shots but after Micic took over we played with a bit more organization. He played great tonight, with only one turnover. That is very important for us.”
The defending EuroLeague champions trailed for most of the first half but never looked back after claiming the lead late in the second quarter. A 13-0 run stretching from the third to the fourth period got them in a safe distance.
Besides the reigning MVP, three more players on Ataman’s side scored in double-digits. Shane Larkin highlighted the remaining pack with 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Another former Baskonia player, German center Tibor Pleiss contributed 17 points. French forward Adrien Moerman added 15 points.
“[Larkin] missed some shots but he had a great effort,” pointed out the winning head coach, “In the last quarter, we played good defense and controlled the rebounds. That was important for our game. It’s the EuroLeague, so every game is difficult.”
“We struggled in the first quarter but each quarter after that we picked it up defensively,” added Larkin, “We got into our game how we want to play offensively and came out with the win. It’s always important to take care of the ball, especially at home and especially against a team like that who likes to get out in transition, run and shoot a lot of threes.”
After the record-breaking 214 consecutive appearances in Europe’s premier club continental competition, Chris Singleton missed the last two games. He returned to action logging one steal in 6:41.
Jayson Granger and Simone Fontecchio shared a game-high 17 points visiting Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome. The Italian forward knocked in 8/8 two-pointers but missed all his five attempts from beyond the arc. Both Alec Peters and Sander Raieste remained out but are expected back later in December.
The Turkish side snapped a two-game losing streak and upped its EuroLeague W-L tally to 7-8. At the bottom end of the double-game week, an away game opposite Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv Thursday.
After being forced down to 5-10 with its sixth loss in seven games on the road through the 2021-22 season, the team coached by Neven Spahija will stay in Turkey to take on Fenerbahce Beko Thursday.
“We couldn’t find a way to stop their pick-and-roll. And once again, our sickness was 18 turnovers,” said the Croatian tactician summing up the Baskonia showing, “It would definitely help us if we played better pick-and-roll and commit fewer turnovers. If we want to play games at this level, we definitely need to play much better than we did tonight. But at least we fought. We have to be positive and think about the next game and stay together.”