By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Luka Doncic assumed leadership of Real Madrid in the absence of Sergio Llull, propelling the “Blancos” to a 80 – 78 road victory over Anadolu Efes in Istanbul.
The Spaniards closed the first leg of the EuroLeague regular season with a 10 – 5 record while Efes has seven victories and eight defeats.
And it all happened thanks to the show that Luka Doncic delivered once more. Not only did the Slovenia wunderkid drop 17 points, dish out 9 assists and grab 5 rebounds but came up big in the final minutes with a sequence of clutch shots that pushed his team closer to win. The 31 points of ranking are a career high in Euroleague and also the same applies to his nine assists.
With the score 75 – 73 and less than three minutes to go, the Slovenian guard scored 5 crucial consecutive points, giving Real a 75 – 78 lead. Dunston made it even for Efes and then Gustavo Ayon with a basket and a key block on Thomas Heurtel’s three-point attempt with few seconds left.
The match was quite close during its vast majority with many changes in the lead and Real holding the narrow advantage, 37 – 36 at halftime.
Efes entered the third quarter more aggressively thanks to Brandon Paul (16 points) and Derrick Brown (14 points, 8 rebounds) and managed to enter the final period ahead 63 – 61. But Doncic and co were the ones to celebrate in the end.