By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Game-winning buzzer-beater connected by Adrien Moerman sent Anadolu Efes to the 82-81 victory versus Panathinaikos OPAP Friday evening.
In a tough shooting night for the defending Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champions, the French power forward tucked in 6/10 field goals, including 3/6 three-pointers. The game-winning triple fired up a 10-10 EuroLeague for the team guided by Ergin Ataman.
“We wanted this mismatch. Vasa [Micic] made the great pass to Tibor [Pleiss]. A double-team on Tibor, he passed me the ball, I was wide open and I made it,” he went through the final possession of the Regular Season Round 22 fixture, “I am very happy because I gave my team the win. I want to win. I am proud because we never gave up.”
“We missed all our open shots. Adrien made the last one and we won the game. It’s not good basketball but Adrien made the difficult shot,” added Ataman, “We missed everything but made the last one.”
Moerman, 33, banged up during the game, went for 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, and one steal through 28 minutes. Teammate James Anderson was forced back to the locker room after picking up an ankle injury early in the first quarter.
Vasilije Micic scored 20 points but went 0/7 from beyond the arc. His side was held to 7/28 three-pointers.
“We really want to make these shots,” the 2021 season and Final Four MVP explained, “We are all very good shooters. If we keep playing like this, we will eventually make them. We have to keep working on that and be more aggressive when we practice these shots.”
Bryant Dunston chipped in 14 points along with four rebounds and four steals en route to a team-high 20 PIR. Shane Larkin slowed down after a nine-point first quarter followed producing a total of 11 points.
Nearing 12 months without a win on the road in Europe’s premier club continental competition, the Greens fell one defensive effort short of prevailing in Sinan Erdem Dome. Great long-range shooting kept the contest tight but the 12 triples and 42/9% accuracy were not enough to prevent the drop to 4-15.
“At the end, it was just one possession when we were not good enough and also unlucky. These games always hurt when you lose them,” summed up the Greek champion boss Dimitris Priftis, “On the final play we went for a zone to disrupt their set play and a double team on Micic to prevent the pull-up jumper or the drive. He found a good pass, we made a wrong rotation and gave up the three-point shot.”
Nemanja Nedovic dropped a game-high 20 points in the Istanbul visit. Daryl Macon Jr. got 17 more points. Okaro White logged 15 points. Giorgos Papagiannis, Stefan Jovic, and Lefteris Mantzoukas were sidelined.
Up next for the Turkish side is the domestic visit to Pinar Karsiyaka Sunday before the EuroLeague away game versus Zenit Saint Petersburg Thursday. The Greek side will host Iraklis Monday, Zalgiris Kaunas Wednesday, and Bitci Baskonia Friday.