By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The defending back-to-back champions finished the EuroLeague season with a win, a high note which can’t change the fact that they missed the quarterfinals.
Anadolu Efes prevailed 87-72 over AS Monaco, which had already secured the fourth spot in the standings and didn’t have any real motivation in this game.
Still, Tibor Pleiss with 21 points made things happen for Efes who also got 12 points from Vasilje Micic and 12 from Elijah Bryant.
It was an emotional game with coach Ergin Ataman practically admitting that he is expected to leave the club at the end of the season.
After leading by two at halftime (41-39), Efes entered the last period leading by six points (60-54) and dominated the last period.
Yoan Makoundou with 16 points and Matthew Strazel with 14 points were the top scorers on the losing side.
Monaco with a 21-13 record will face Maccabi Tel Aviv (20-14) in the playoffs, while Efes finished the season with a 17-17 record.
“It’s bittersweet”
Shane Larkin, one of the two marquee stars of Efes during their back-to-back titles, admitted also that this feels like the end of an era: “You know, it’s bittersweet. Obviously, it always feels good to win, but for the first time in a few years, this is our last game in the EuroLeague. We are not going to the playoffs. Our season ended today, but at least we ended it with a home win in front of our fans so that’s a good feeling”.
The bottom line is that the season was not the one expected by Efes, as Larkin said: “I think for everyone involved the number one word to describe our season is ‘disappointing’. We came into the season with a lot of expectations. Obviously, I’ve always been in the playoffs, always been in the Final Four, and this is our first year not even in the playoffs. So tonight we didn’t even have a chance to go and defend our title after the last two years working so hard to get there. It’s obviously not a good feeling”.
Despite winning back-to-back titles, Efes wanted more per Larkin: “We always feel that we could have done better, but basketball is basketball and you need to win. So we need to appreciate our fans, they came and supported us all season. This season wasn’t what we wanted it to be, but we are always going to have support from them and we feel good that they are still here, even in the last game of the season. I want to say thank you to them and we are going to come back better next year.”
Vasilije Micic, the other star of Efes, agreed: “It’s a little bit of an empty feeling, but I think that this is our profession. I don’t think that we created anything bad this season except that we were always a little bit short in some moments. It was a new team, from the very beginning. We had four new players that we tried to make them feel at home, but we had some bad luck with injuries and we were chasing all the time something – a position, some victories. But we should use the time we have to play to improve our chemistry, and our feelings inside the team, and I think that we will do that”.
On the other hand, Monaco has to focus on the future and the playoffs as coach Sasa Obradovic said: “Let’s forget about this game and think about what is in front of us. We respect [Maccabi] a lot. I think that we have a strong opponent like everybody in the playoffs, so it’s going to be an interesting series.”