By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
A close game most of the way, Anadolu Efes survived Alba Berlin for the win, 78-74, Friday evening.
Vasilije Micic posted a 20-point, 11-assist double-double. Taking over early in the fourth quarter, the reigning two-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four MVP and 2021 season MVP scored six points getting the team coached by Ergin Ataman in charge of the Regular Season Round 4 contest.
“The most important today was to win somehow,” was his immediate reaction. The back-to-back champions evened their W-L tally at 2-2.
Relatively quiet after the 11-point outburst in the first quarter, Will Clyburn still produced a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double to go along with five assists. Rodrigue Beaubois chipped in ten more points. Ninth win in a row against the German outfit shaping a dominating 14-1 record this century.
“It was a tough, hard game. It was a high-tempo game,” said exhausted Clyburn, who also discussed the 47-37 edge between teams in rebounds, “Everybody knows we need to crash the board to get extra possessions. Any time you get an extra possession, it is always good.”
“I can say we played terrible basketball,” stated Ataman, “Will had 19 shots and Micic had 17 shots. We can’t play basketball like this. We need to share the ball in the offense. We need to find scores with the bigs on the roll.”
The main threat in Istanbul’s Sinan Erdem Dome was Christ Koumadje. Berlin’s towering center blocked six shots and made 6/6 of his own in a 12-point effort. Israel connection, Tamir Blatt and Yovel Zoosman shared a team-high 15 points.
Playing the fourth game in seven days and missing Marcus Eriksson, Maodo Lo, Jaleen Smith, and Johannes Thiemann, the team coached by Israel Gonzalez dropped to 3-1 in EuroLeague. “We arrived in the last quarter very tired,” confessed the Spanish tactician.
It was the first loss this season, after seven straight wins across all competitions, including a 3-0 start in the easyCredit BBL for the reigning league and cup champions of Germany.
“First of all, I really want to emphasize this team is something great for EuroLeague,” Micic praised the visitors trusting promising upstarts placed in key positions across the roster, “It gives such big confidence to every player, some young players with a heavy contribution. For me, it is just amazing.”
Shane Larkin (finger) is expected to stay on the injury list for several more weeks. His side will visit Frutti Extra Bursaspor looking to improve to 4-0 in Turkey’s BSL before the Istanbul derby against Fenerbahce Beko in the next week of EuroLeague action.
The Berlin outfit will host MLP Academics Heidelberg Sunday and switch back to Europe’s top club continental competition with a visit to Valencia Thursday.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net