By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Tibor Pleiss posted a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, Shane Larkin added 20 points on 4/7 3-pointers, five rebounds and four assists and Anadolu Efes beat Khimki Moscow 101 – 82 to complete the first leg of the EuroLeague regular season with a 14 – 3 record and at the top of the standings.
“It felt good, great,” Pleiss said to EuroLeague TV. “The most important thing is we won the game, but of course I am happy that I played good and helped the team win. It was an important win, our first win of the year, and I think we can continue like this. The entire second half we played really good together, we moved the ball and that is the key. If you play together, fight together on offense and on defense, you can have games like this.”
Khimki, that was without top scorer Alexey Shved, dropped to 8-9. Jeremy Evans finished with 15 points and nine rebounds while Chris Kramer added 13 points plus six assists.
Sharing is caring
“We are playing really well right now. We are sharing the ball, everybody is shooting the ball well and we are getting better every single day,”Larkin said. “Defense is our calling card. If we lock in defensively and get down in transition and play our game, we can score like this every time. Some games we get three-happy, but today we really took good threes, shot a good percentage and shared that ball. If we can do that on a more consistent basis, we will be a tough team to beat.”
Efes was already leading 47 – 43 at halftime until absolutely turning up the offensive in the third quarter to overpower Khimki 30 – 18. In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Ergin Ataman’s players went up 85 – 63 to establish a complete dominance in the match.
Khimki couldn’t hold back the storm brought by Efes, especially by the 3-point line. The hosts shot 16/30 3-pointers with Krunoslav Simon adding 4/4 for 12 points to his team’s spree from beyond the arc.
For Efes, Chris Singleton also dropped 13 points and Vasilije Micic scored 11 and delivered probably the highlight of the game.
This assist is just RIDICULOUSpic.twitter.com/C6vhQ94CQN
— Eurohoops.net (@Eurohoopsnet) January 3, 2020
A balanced performance
Efes surpassed the 100-point mark and coach Ergin Ataman emphasized how his players’ defensive attitude led to more baskets. “Once again we scored more than 100 points, which is good, but I tell my players to do that we have to be aggressive on defense and to run on offense,” Ataman said. “Excellent game and congratulations to my players. The key to [our three-point shooting] is not the offense, it is our defense. When we are aggressive on defense and steal the ball, in open court we have a lot of space.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball