By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Although with less than slim chances of entering the playoffs, Maccabi Tel Aviv made the life of Efes rather difficult for 20 minutes, owning a 41 – 42 halftime lead.
But that was until Jayson Granger energized.
The Uruguayan guard scored 13 points in the third quarter, 10 of them in 90 seconds, out of a team-high 22, lifting Efes on the other end as well and onwards to a 92 – 87 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
His efforts, that also included 4 rebounds and 2 steals, led the Turkish team through a 26 – 15 partial score in the period and then Thomas Heurtel finished the job adding 11 points (18 in total plus 8 assists) in 4 minutes of the fourth, handing the hosts a 81 – 68 lead with less than 5 minutes remaining.
Despite the 23 points career-high efforts of Victor Rudd and Sylven Landesberg’s 20, Maccabi didn’t recover from that deficit, managing only to trim it a bit in the last minute.
Thus Efes has improved its record to 14 – 12 and has both of its feet within the playoffs zone. The Israelis are 9 – 17 and without postseason hopes.
With nothing to fear, Maccabi had entered the match aggressively making 13 – 17, 2 minutes before the end of the first period. Only Bryant Dunston (13 points, 12 rebounds) delivered for an Efes that was incredibly sloppy on both ends.
Devin Smith (10 points) and his teammates kept punishing all defensive mistakes of the hosts but that changed in the third. Once Efes took a double-digit lead, 67 – 57 it didn’t look back as Maccabi never lower it to less than six points.