By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Thomas Heurtel dropped buckets and dished out assists… uncontrollably and Bryant Dunston was a brute force inside the paint as Anadolu Efes caught up with Baskonia in the EuroLeague standings thanks a 96 – 85 victory.
The French point guard posted his second double-double in the season with 21 points plus 11 assists and Dunston finished with 16 points, 7 rebounds while tying his EuroLeague blocks career-high after 5 stops.
Adam Hanga’s 20 points EuroLeague career-high along with 4 rebounds and 3 assists, plus the 23 points by Rodrigue Beaubois weren’t enough for Baskonia that was betrayed by its poor perimeter defense and lackluster zone D that Sito Alonso employed in various moments of the match.
The latter resulted in Efes finishing the match with 14/34 from downtown, four of them near the end of the third quarter when it got a 73 – 60 advantage.
But the defensive problems for the guests began in the second period when the “two towers” duof of Johannes Voigtmann/Andrea Bargnani didn’t work and Efes grabbed the opportunity to expand its 23 – 21 first quarter lead and reached halftime ahead 47 – 38.
Brandon Paul (14 points, all in the second half) got seriously energized in the third quarter for Efes, punishing his opponents from beyond the arc and along with DeShaun Thomas.
Baskonia didn’t have any problem to reach the basket but continued to pay small attention on what was going in the other end of the floor with the margin always remaining in double figures for Efes.