2020-21Regular SeasonRound 25
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 76
Olympiacos Piraeus 53
February 18, 2021 CET: 18:30
Local time: 20:30 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Efes's defense suffocates Olympiacos

Anadolu Efes Istanbul confirmed its positive momentum by defeating Olympiacos Piraeus 76-53 at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall on Thursday. Efes, which has won six of its last seven games, improved to 14-10 in the standings. Olympiacos dropped to 11-14 and is now on a five-game losing streak. Shane Larkin led the winners with 21 points and 5 assists, Bryant Dunston added 15 points and Rodrigue Beaubois had 11 for Efes. Giannoulis Larentzakis scored 10 points and dished 8 assists for the visitors, who led 11-26 after 10 minutes. Larkin and Beaubois stepped up for Efes, leading a 24-2 run that gave their team a 43-34 margin at halftime. The hosts boosted their margin to 58-43 after three quarters and cruised the rest of the way.

Shaquielle McKissic got Olympiacos going with a fastbreak layup that Vasilije Micic bettered with a three-pointer. Larentzakis followed a layup with a triple. He got help from Sasha Vezenkov and Octavius Ellis to give Olympiacos a 5-12 lead. Dunston and Adrien Moerman stepped up for Efes, but McKissic and Hassan Martin boosted the Reds' lead to 9-18. Larentzakis and Kostas Sloukas each struck from downtown and Martin added a layup to make it 11-26, after 10 minutes. Beaubois followed a jumper with a floater early in the second quarter. Dunston added an alley-oop layup for a 17-28 Efes deficit. Larkin rescued Efes with a triple, a driving layup and a wild four-point play, bringing his team within 26-28. Larentzakis buried an off-balance jumper, but Larkin and James Anderson completed the hosts' comeback, 32-30. Beaubois took over with an alley-oop slam and a corner three-pointer that capped a 24-2 run. Dunston and Anderson each scored around the basket, but Charles Jenkins and Vezenkov kept Olympiacos within 43-34 at halftime.

Larkin and Beaubois kept pushing Efes after the break and Dunston's off-balance three-point play gave the hosts a 50-37 margin. Micic and Larkin each struck from beyond the arc to break the game open, 56-38. Jenkins hit a jumper and Vassilis Spanoulis added a triple to bring Olympiacos a bit closer, 58-43, after 30 minutes. Krunoslav Simon joined the three-point shootout early in the fourth quarter and Dunston scored down low to make it a 20-point game. Livio Jean-Charles tried to change things with a corner triple but didn't find much help. Larkin and Moerman helped Efes seal the outcome, 69-47, midway through the fourth quarter.

Pivotal performer

It took Shane Larkin some time to find his rhythm, but once he did, he was unstoppable. Larkin finished the game with 21 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting plus 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 7 fouls drawn for a PIR of 32.

Game-changing moment

Olympiacos led 13-28 early in the fourth quarter, but Efes found its regular go-to guy to dynamite the game. Shane Larkin had 9 unanswered points in a mammoth 24-2 run highlighted by Rodrigue Beaubois's alley-oop slam. All of a sudden, Efes led 37-30 and was well on its way to dominating the game.

Stellar stat

Olympiacos made 7 of 11 two-pointers (63.6%) and 4 of 6 shots from downtown (66.7%) in the first quarter, outrebounding Efes 5-11 and committing just 2 turnovers. In the final 30 minutes, however, the Reds made just 8 of 19 two-pointers (42.1%), 2 of 13 three-pointers (15.4%), were outrebounded 30-16 and had 20 turnovers.

Did you know?

Efes won its fifth consecutive game against Olympiacos. The Reds' last time against Efes, 88-81, came on December 13, 2018. Olympiacos, however, has a 24-22 head-to-head record against the Turkish powerhouse. Both teams are now 21-21 since the turn of the millennium.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week. Olympiacos hosts CSKA Moscow on Thursday, February 25 in a rematch of the 2012 EuroLeague championship game. A day later, Efes visits cross-town rivals Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.

Rodrigue Beaubois - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB20
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; MAJKIC, MARIO ; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul11321518
Olympiacos Piraeus268910
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul11435876
Olympiacos Piraeus26344353
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 21 2/4 4/8 5/6   5 5 5 3 1   1   7 32
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 21:40 11 4/6 1/7     1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3   2
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 17:01 2   0/2 2/2   5 5           3 2 4
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 1:28                              
13 MUSA, DZANAN 1:53                 1           1
15 SANLI, SERTAC 5:47 2 1/2 0/1     1 1 1   1     1    
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 22:59 5 2/3 0/1 1/2   3 3 1 2 2   1 2 1 4
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 1:53 2 1/1     1   1               3
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 22:19 9 1/4 2/4 1/2       3   6   1 2 2 -1
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 23:30 4 2/2 0/2 0/1 1 3 4 3 1 1       2 10
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 32:19 15 7/8   1/1 4 3 7 3 3 2 1   2 3 27
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 17:24 5 0/1 1/3 2/2   4 4 2 2 1     1 1 9
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 76 20/31 8/28 12/16 9 26 35 19 13 15 2 4 14 18 95
        64.5% 28.6% 75%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN
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
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 NIKOLAIDIS, ALEXANDROS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 CHARALAMPOPOULOS, VASILIS 0:31                              
5 LARENTZAKIS, GIANNOULIS 23:13 10 2/2 2/4     3 3 8 2 3     4   14
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 18:01 4 0/1 1/5 1/2 1 3 4 1 1 4   1   4 3
11 SLOUKAS, KOSTAS 27:01 7 2/4 1/3   1 4 5 2 1 5     1 2 7
12 MARTIN, HASSAN 18:16 4 2/2             2   1   2   5
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 34:23 9 2/4 1/3 2/2 1 7 8 3 3 2     1 5 21
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 11:32   0/2     1   1     2     1 1 -3
17 JEAN-CHARLES, LIVIO 13:24 5 1/3 1/1             1 2       4
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 15:36 4 2/4           1   1     3   -1
32 ELLIS, OCTAVIUS 13:35 3 1/2   1/2   2 2 1   1     3 1 1
77 MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE 24:28 7 3/6 0/3 1/2   3 3   2 2 1 1 3 1 1
Team             1 1     1          
Totals 200:00 53 15/30 6/19 5/8 4 23 27 16 11 22 4 2 18 14 52
        50% 31.6% 62.5%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We didn't start the game well, especially on offense. We made a lot of mistakes, a lot of turnovers in the first quarter, and we gave them fastbreak points in the open court, so we went down 15 points. But then, in the second quarter, especially with our bench players, Larkin, Dunston and Anderson together on court, we improved our aggressivity and on offense, with Larkin, we broke their man-to-man defense. We started to find open shots, penetrations. On defense, I think that in this game, we played perfect defense, especially in halfcourt defense. We didn't give them any pick-and-roll score for Sloukas, for Spanoulis on the roll. So our defense was perfect. Then, after the second quarter, we also started to find points after defense, transition points with Larkin. In set offenses, we found the good way to attack their switching man-to-man. We missed a lot of open shots - we took 28 three-point shots and made only 8 - but with hustle, we stayed in the game and took one more very important win. It is a very important victory for us."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"First of all, congratulations to Efes for its good performance and the win. They came back and all together, they have a really deep and very talented roster. For us, we had two faces. One, of course, in the first quarter in which we excuted how we wanted on offense and defense, sharing the ball, playing together and finally, getting a difference by more than 10 points - 15, if I remember right. But in my opinion, without any explanation, in the second quarter, we collapsed. We stopped playing together and started playing individually. At the same time, coming back to defense, we didn't execute our game plan. So we gave Efes the opportunity to find confidence, especially with their guards, very good scorers and creators that they have. And then, for three quarters, we made, if I am not wrong, 17-18 turnovers and out of the 22 we had in the whole game. It is a really huge number. If you want to be competitive here against Efes, first of all, you need to protect the ball. Second, you need to be patient and shoot the ball well, stay in our game plan and control your feelings. It was obvious that we didn't control our feelings after the second quarter."

Players

LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We just had to play more focused and more intense. We came out really soft on the defensive end and they got a lot of scores in transition. But once we locked in on the defensive end, we started to get our offensive rhythm and then we started to play better. It is a big win. Every single game is important right now, especially in the place that we are in, so to be able to come out here against a good team and get a victory at home after the break is big for us, and it is good."
DUNSTON, BRYANT
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We started off the game slow. Like I said at halftime, we wanted to make sure we stayed focused because against Olympiacos, it is always a physical game. Coach said before the game that we had to dictate the physicality of the game and I think we did a really good job at that. Even when we were missing shots, we had our heads on our defense, and that is what we need to do going forward. We are trying to not look at the past, just move forward, one game at a time. It was good to have everybody out there today. I think Tibor just came back, it was his first game back after a while being out. So it is good to have everybody there, the energy was a lot different and it showed on the court."
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