2019-20Regular SeasonRound 13
December 12, 2019 CET: 18:45
Local time: 20:45 ULKER SPORTS AND EVENT HALL

Simon, Larkin lead Efes past Fenerbahce

Anadolu Efes Istanbul sent a message that echoed all around the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by downing Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 73-81 at Ulker Sports Arena on Thursday. Efes improved to 11-2 to remain atop the standings and is now on a seven-game winning streak. Fenerbahce dropped to 5-8 and saw its three-game winning streak come to an end. Krunoslav Simon led the winners with 22 points. Shane Larkin added 20 - all in the second half - while Sertac Sanli had 15 for Efes. Derrick Williams paced Fenerbahce with 16 points. Nando De Colo added 13, Kostas Sloukas had 12 while Nikola Kalinic and Luigi Datome each got 10 for the hosts. The game was tied, 38-38, at halftime. Then Larkin, who had been held scoreless for 23 minutes, scored 10 quick points which helped the visitors make it a double-digit game, 49-59, after 30 minutes. Nothing changed after that moment, as Simon and Larkin made sure to lead Efes to a big road win.

Sloukas got Fenerbahce going with a jumper, but Chris Singleton matched that with a jump hook and Simon added a corner triple for a 2-5 Efes lead. The hosts got more players involved on offense, as Joffrey Lauvergne scored down low and Williams struck from downtown to restore a slim edge. Singleton had 5 points in a 0-7 run that gave Efes a 7-12 lead. De Colo and Williams rescued Fenerbahce, combining for all the points in a 9-0 run that gave his team a 16-12 edge. De Colo struck from beyond the arc, but Simon and Tibor Pleiss helped Efes regain the lead, 19-20. A three-pointer by Datome made it 22-20 after 10 minutes. Ahmet Duverioglu stepped up with a layup and De Colo added an over-the-backboard circus shot, but Sanli kept Efes in charge, 26-28. Kalinic swished a six-meter shot and Ali Muhammed scored off a steal to provide another lead change, 30-28. Mahmutoglu buried a triple, but Sanli and Alec Peters put Efes atop, 33-34. Kalinic sank a floater and Mahmutoglu bettered Sanli's layup with a three-pointer but Vasilije Micic banked in an off-balance shot that tied it again, 38-38, at halftime.

Simon and Williams traded three-pointers immediately after the break. Then Sanli dunked in traffic for a 41-43 Efes lead. Larkin took over with a layup-plus-foul - his first points - and bettered De Colo's jumper with a bomb from beyond the arc for a 43-50 Efes lead. Larkin stayed red hot to make it a double-digit game. Williams tried to change things with an alley-oop layup and De Colo added a jumper, but Sanli and Peters restored a 10-point Efes lead. Singleton and Datome traded layups to make it 49-59 after 30 minutes. Simon nailed one from beyond the arc early in the fourth quarter, but Williams and Sloukas gave Fenerbahce hope, 54-62, with over 8 minutes left. Sanli hit a jumper, igniting 0-6 run which Larkin capped with a driving layup to make it 54-68. Kalinic scored in the low post, but Simon banked in a one-handed jumper. Fenerbahce kept missing open shots and Larkin seemed to seal the outcome, 56-73, with 4 minutes left. Datome followed a jumper with a triple, however, and Sloukas struck twice from downtown to bring the hosts within 67-73 in the next-to-last minute. Simon silenced the crowd with a three-point play only to see Kalinic bring Fenerbahce even closer, 71-76, with 59.1 seconds to go. Larkin and Simon scored around the basket to sent Efes back home with a win.

Pivotal performer

Kruno Simon was at his best, doing a little bit of everything to make sure Efes captured an important win. He finished the game with 22 points on 5-of-7 two-point shooting, 3-of-5 from downtown and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. He added 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals for a PIR of 31.

Game-changing moment

Fenerbahce led 41-43 early in the third quarter and had managed to keep Shane Larkin scoreless until that moment. It didn't last long, as Larkin barely needed 3 minutes to hit an off-balance three-point play, a bomb from downtown and 4 more free throws to give Efes its first double-digit lead, 43-53. Fenerbahce never recovered and Efes managed its lead well in the fourth quarter.

Stellar stat

Two-point shots made the difference in this game. Efes hit 23 of 34 shots inside the arc (67.6%). Fenerbahce took more attempts (25) but made fewer baskets (19), which led to a lower percentage (54.3%).

Did you notice?

Larkin became the first player this season to hit at least 10 free throws in two EuroLeague games. He downed 11 of 12 on this night and shot 14 for 14 against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on November 19. The other players who have scored 10 free throws or more are Kostas Sloukas (13), Nikola Mirotic (12) and Cory Higgins of FC Barcelona (10) and Mike James of CSKA Moscow (10).

Next game

Both teams return to Turkish Airlines EuroLeague action on Tuesday, December 17. Fenerbahce visits Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in a special game for Coach Obradovic, who led the Greens to five of their six EuroLeague titles. Efes also plays on the road, facing Zalgiris Kaunas.

Krunoslav Simon - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB19
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; PUKL,SASA; DIFALLAH, MEHDI
Attendance: 12278
By Quarter1234
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul22161124
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20182122
End of Quarter1234
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul22384973
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20385981
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
9 WESTERMANN, LEO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 MAHMUTOGLU, MELIH 21:06 6 0/1 2/5     1 1 2         2   3
12 KALINIC, NIKOLA 19:35 10 4/7 0/1 2/2 2 2 4           1 4 13
16 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 31:12 12 2/5 2/4 2/2 2 4 6 7   4     3 2 15
18 ARNA, EGEHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 DE COLO, NANDO 34:31 13 5/8 1/3   1   1 3 2 4     1 3 12
21 WILLIAMS, DERRICK 24:52 16 3/5 3/7 1/4   2 2 1 3 3     1 3 12
35 MUHAMMED, ALI 6:52 2 1/2 0/1           1 1     1 1  
44 DUVERIOGLU, AHMET 5:17 2 1/1                     1   1
70 DATOME, LUIGI 35:46 10 2/3 2/5   2 6 8 4     1   4   15
77 LAUVERGNE, JOFFREY 17:22 2 1/3           1           2 3
91 STIMAC, VLADIMIR 3:27           1 1           2   -1
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 73 19/35 10/26 5/8 8 19 27 18 6 13 1 0 16 15 76
        54.3% 38.5% 62.5%
Head coach: OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 LARKIN, SHANE 31:47 20 3/5 1/5 11/12   3 3 3 1 2       6 24
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 14:12   0/3 0/1     2 2 1 1 1     2   -3
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 35:43 9 2/3 1/4 2/2   6 6 2 2 1     3 3 14
4 BALBAY, DOGUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 GECIM, TOLGA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SANLI, SERTAC 22:15 15 6/8 0/1 3/4 2 3 5   1       3 2 16
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 11:35 4 2/2     1 1 2 1   1         6
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 36:54 6 3/4 0/4     1 1 5   5   1 3 2  
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 4:53 2 1/1 0/1         1 1           3
25 PETERS, ALEC 9:28 3 1/1   1/2                 1 1 2
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 33:13 22 5/7 3/5 3/3 2 7 9 4 2 1     3 2 31
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 81 23/34 5/21 20/23 7 24 31 17 8 12 0 1 15 16 95
        67.6% 23.8% 87%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

OBRADOVIC, ZELJKO
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
"Before the game, we tried to prepare ourselves to play aggressive defense against the team that leads the EuroLeague. We started the game very well, we had the rhythm to score very easy points in the first half. The game was decided in the third quarter. After the third quarter, it was hard to come back in the game. Efes has players that can control the game. So they played very good basketball, they know how to play, and they deserved to win the game. Speaking about my team, I feel that we tried to fight in the first half more than the second. At some moments we did not play smart. But despite everything, it was very, very good."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"First, I would like to say it was one of the best, emotional atmospheres in the EuroLeague and in the locker room, now after the game, I gave all my congratulations to my players because it is not easy to put your strategy in this atmosphere against a team like Fenerbahce with a great roster and a great coach. In the first half, we played great defense. We stopped all their attacks, but they are a great team and found 4-5 baskets on last-second shots; we played great defense, but in the last second, they were successful to move the ball, to rotate the ball and find open shots, last-second shots. In the first half, Larkin had 0 points because every time he received the ball, they tried to bring two players against him. We talked in the locker room, especially about offensive situations, to give more isolation to Larkin than to play the pick-and-roll, to give him more space to attack, to play with more our transition game with Larkin. And in the second half, we won with his scoring and we found a 15-16 point difference. Fenerbahce came back with Derrick Williams, Datome, Kalinic at the ‘4’ and ‘5’. They played without a center and we had some problems with that. But, finally, we solved the game with Larkin and Simon. It's a great victory for us, it's our sixth road victory, which is very important in the EuroLeague."

Players

SIMON, KRUNOSLAV
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It is always tough to play against them, but we showed one more time that we are a great team, that we are playing all together and of course, it is an important win for us. It is the best part of our team - in every game, someone else is playing well. So it is tough to play against us and I hope we will continue in this mode."
LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"I feel good. We won a lot of games in a row now and are in first place in the EuroLeague, so we just have to continue to play well, continue to focus on getting better every day and keep going hard. What is good about our team is that it doesn't have to be the same guy every night. Kruno [Simon] stepped up huge tonight and every night, it can be somebody different, so we just have to continue to get better, grow together as a team and continue to get big wins - and try to make it back to the Final Four."
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