By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes made some quite notable offseason signings in order to return to the EuroLeague playoffs. And the team’s first game of the 2018-2019 season was more than promising regarding their future in the competition.
With five players scoring in double figures, Efes defeated Bayern Munich 90 – 71 on the road, greatly upsetting their opponents in their return to EuroLeague for the first time since 2016.
The two teams were close for about 15 minutes until Ergin Ataman used three guards in his team’s lineup to change the rhythm completely. Efes pulled off consecutive defenses, found clear looks to the basket in transition and finished the first half up 37 – 44. The Turkish team continued the same intensity in the third quarter to completely overpower the hosts and cruise towards victory.
“They had a strong defense and punished us. We played good for seven minutes, but that’s not enough at this level. We have to be defensively much better, we made too many mistakes,” Bayern coach Dejan Radonjic said.
Dogus Balbay was named game MVP after finishing with a career-high 19 PIR (nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block). Brock Motum scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed five boards while Shane Larkin added 13 points and dished out five assists. James Anderson finished with 12 points, Tibor Pleiss had 11 points and six rebounds and Adrien Moerman also scored 11.
For Bayern, Nihad Dedovic scored 17 points and Stefan Jovic had 15 points, five assists, and five rebounds. Newcomer Derrick Williams was not in the active roster of the team.