By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Vasilije Micic scored a game-high 29 points and dished out six assists as Anadolu Efes beat Real Madrid 93 – 90 to get a critical win in its pursuit for homecourt advantage in the EuroLeague playoffs.
“In the second half, we were much better,” Micic said. “In the fourth quarter, very good. Still, they scored, but I would say that each basket they scored was really difficult for them. We made them work. We made them think about the ball, about everything, so congrats to my teammates and also to Real’s players.”
Micic also made the last basket of the game, when he stole the ball from Gabriel Deck and ran the transition to hit the layup for the 93 – 90 with 1:47 to play. Both teams missed plenty of shots during the remaining time and Rudy Fernandez misfired in the game-tying attempt for Real in the last offense.
Real, that led almost from the beginning and up until the very last minutes, last scored in the game with 2:37 left when Deck drained a tough jumper for the 88 – 90 and reached a EuroLeague career-high 23 points. The Argentinian forward, who also had 10 rebounds while staying on the floor throughout the whole game, was the only Real player to score in the last nine minutes of the game.
Elijah Bryant buried the go-ahead triple for the 91 – 90 from the corner to complete a comeback by Efes from down 10 in the last period. Real was up 74 – 84 early in the fourth quarter but Efes made a 14 – 4 run and tied the game for the first time after the initial seconds, thanks to a 3-pointer by Micic.
Adrien Moerman had 18 points, including two 3-pointers in Efes’ decisive run in the fourth period, plus six rebounds. Shane Larkin contributed two out of his 12 points in the second half after being off before the break while Tibor Pleiss scored 11.
Guerschon Yabusele dropped 20 points, five rebounds and five assists while Adam Hanga had 14 points for Real that fell to 18 – 7. The Blancos remain second in the standings.
“A close game, like we saw,” Real coach Pablo Laso said. “I think we played very solid in certain moments. But in the end it was about late decisions. They hit important shots in the end, and they won the game.”
Feeding off the crowd’s energy
It was almost full house tonight in Sinan Erdem Dome. The presence of the fans and the noise they made played a role in Efes’ comeback, according to coach Ergin Ataman.
“First of all, I think this was very important for us, because more than 15,000 supporters helped us so much to come back, especially in the last quarter,” Ataman said. “We improved the defense; we stole the ball; we improved the tempo. As I said at halftime, we needed to improve the tempo, because Real Madrid played slow-down, they made switches, and we needed to steal some balls. We needed to play aggressive. Finally, in the last quarter, we were successful to do this. Also, [Real] played a great game, especially [Thomas] Heurtel, Gabriel Deck. They scored incredible shots. [Guerschon] Yabusele made a lot of three-pointers, but finally we found a way to win the game.”