By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Vasilije Micic and Will Clyburn performed with the force of two former Final Four MVPs and led Anadolu Efes to a 96 – 86 win over Barcelona in a rematch of multiple important EuroLeague battles of the last couple of years, including the 2021 championship game.
Micic finished the game with 22 points, five assists, and four steals while Clyburn produced 24 points and six rebounds.
He had 21 of his points in the fourth period to help Efes retain a steady two-possession advantage and push back every effort Barcelona made to become threatening.
As Micic said: “It was a desperately needed victory for us but at the same time, I don’t think we had bad performances previously”.
“I am pretty sure everybody knows we are going through a rough patch and today, everybody was on the same page”, added Clyburn. “Everybody was giving their all out there, from start to finish, from the first player to anyone that played”.
Nicolas Laprovittola dropped a career-high 28 points for Barcelona but his scoring record wasn’t enough. He made five straight points for the 92 – 86 with 50 seconds remaining in the last stand for the Blaugrana but that was the closest his team went after trailing by a margin around double figures for most of the second half.
Efes, that snapped a three-game skid, led for the entire match following the first 13 minutes and after falling behind 16 – 22 in the first quarter. Ergin Ataman’s players began hitting 3-pointers to finish halftime with 8-14 from beyond the arc as they took a 45 – 41 lead.
The halftime break didn’t do any good for Barca. Efes began the third period with an 8 – 0 run and retained a lead beyond shooting distance for the rest of the match.
Speaking on the game, Efes coach Ergin Ataman said: “I think that 100 percent we deserved to win tonight, except the first 5 minutes, when we tried to attack with early offense and we made some turnovers. We took control of the game after 5 minutes, we started to play excellent defense”.
Around the mid of the third quarter, Barca coach Sarunas Jasikevicius had what seemed to be an argument with Nikola Kalinic (10 points, four rebounds) and sent him to the locker room.
“He disrespected the team,” Saras said after the match.