By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes Istanbul prevailed over visiting Barcelona with a 92-70 victory in Round 25 of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in the strong battle for the fourth place and the homecourt advantage.
Shane Larkin played a huge part in this win for the Turkish team, leading Efes with a new stunning career-high of 37 points on 13-15 FG shooting, with six from behind the arc! The 26-year-old American guard also contributed five rebounds and one assist over 25 minutes on the court, in one of the best performances in EuroLeague this season. Larkin also didn’t fall far from the all-time EuroLeague best of 41 points.
“We played incredible offense and defense, and Shane Larkin had a great game. It was also a very good atmosphere, one of the best in Efes history. Now we have five more games, nothing is guaranteed and we want to win a minimum three or four more games. Shane is a great player, he’s happy, the team has accepted him, and we are finding a way to play Shane and Micic together”, commented coach Ergin Ataman in his post-game quotes.
Notably, Adrien Moerman also posted a grand double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, a perfect combo with Larkin for Efes.
From the tip-off of the game, it was clear that the hosts held the upper hand, leading Barcelona in its entirety, even though Adam Hanga (14 p.) and Ante Tomic (13 p.) tried to save the visitors. However, the hosts were way more productive in offense and that was shown in the final result.
“Before the game, I told my players to play every minute, every possession because tonight we had two goals: 100% to win the game, and also to take the advantage of 15 points for another victory”, added Ataman.
Efes now moves up to a 16-9 record, leaving Barcelona behind at 15-10 and has the advantage for the fourth spot of the regular season standings and the home court advantage in the playoffs.
Photo credit: EuroLeague