2019-20Regular SeasonRound 28
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 91
Olympiacos Piraeus 79
March 06, 2020 CET: 18:30
Local time: 20:30 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Larkin hits 10 threes again to lift Efes

Shane Larkin made EuroLeague history again by scoring 40 points on a record-tying 10 three-point shots as Anadolu Efes Istanbul clinched home-court advantage in the playoffs by downing Olympiacos Piraeus 91-79 on Friday at the Sinan Erdem Dome. Efes improved its league-leading record to 24-4. Combined with a loss by Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, Efes is assured of finishing as one of the top four teams at the end of the regular season. Olympiacos dropped to 12-16 to share ninth place in the standings. The Reds had a fast start and led by 8 points, but Larkin, Vasilije Micic and Tibor Pleiss fueled an 18-2 first-quarter run to give Efes a double-digit lead that it never relinquished. Larkin made 10 of 15 three-point shots, and also had 5 assists and 3 steals. Pleiss scored 13 points, Micic had 12 and 9 assists, and Bryant Dunston, in his first extended action since November, scored 11. Octavius Ellis had 14 points for Olympiacos, Dwight Buycks added 11 points and 8 assists, and Sasha Vezenkov finished with 10 in a losing effort.

Olympiacos had a strong start, with Ellis scoring 4 points and Kostas Papanikolaou knocking down back-to-back triples to open a 5-13 lead in less than 3 minutes. After a timeout, however, Larkin and Micic downed three-pointers to spark an 18-2 Efes run. Larkin strung together 8 points, including a triple, then connected with Pleiss twice, including an alley-oop dunk to open a 29-19 lead. A triple from Buycks cut the difference to 29-24 at the end of the first quarter, but Micic soon scored 5 to restore the double-digit margin. A put-back from Adrien Moerman and a three-point play from Dunston helped the hosts stretch the margin to 49-34 before Buycks and Ellis fueled a late Olympiacos run to within 51-41 at halftime. James Anderson's three-pointer for Efes was the only basket in the first 3 minutes of the third quarter before Larkin lit it up, hitting 3 triples in a span of 1 minutes and 45 seconds to open a 63-46 lead. Wade Baldwin IV had a jumper and drove for a reverse layup for the Reds, but Larkin answered with a his seventh shot from the arc, which came with a free throw, and Efes took a 72-55 lead into the fourth quarter. Baldwin struck from deep and Olympiacos opened the final quarter with a 0-9 run. Vezenkov strung together 6 points that cut the difference to 74-66 before a tip-in from Chris Singleton and Larkin's fastbreak layup stopped the bleeding. Brandon Paul hit a three-pointer, but the Reds could not get closer before Larkin knocked down his eighth triple, and soon his ninth to make it 86-72 with 2 minutes to go. Larkin wrapped things up with his 10th three-pointer before getting a standing ovation from a jubilant sold out Sinan Erdem dome.

Shane Larkin show

Larkin became the first player in EuroLeague this century to score 40 or more points twice, after having broken the single-game record with 49 earlier this season. It also marks the second time this season Larkin hit 10 triples, the mark that Andrew Goudelock originally set in November 2014.

Key stat

There were no turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the game, but finding itself behind 11-17, Efes stepped it up on defense and went on to force 15 Olympiacos miscues before the end of the third quarter. Meanwhile, Efes had no turnovers in the first quarter, and just 6 after 30 minutes, by which time the hosts held a 17-point lead.

Trio fuels Efes

Larkin, Vasilije Micic and Tibor Pleiss combined to score 28 of 29 first-quarter points for Efes, including all of them in an 18-2 takeover run. Larkin and Micic combined to dish all 9 of Efes's assists in that quarter. The trio put hosts in front and Efes never looked back.

Dunston makes impact

Bryant Dunston made his EuroLeague return on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, but played less than 4 minutes there. Tonight was the first true action for Dunston since Round 7 against Olympiacos, his former team. Tonight, Dunston scored 11 points, making 3 of 3 two-pointers and 5 of 5 free throws in 18 minutes of action.

No subs

In a rarity on the basketball floors these days, coach Ergin Ataman did not make a single substitution in the first quarter as his starting lineup played the entire 10 minutes. Olympiacos coach Georgios Bartzokas used a very similar strategy, making only one substitution after 8 minutes and 50 seconds of the game.

Next up

Next week in Round 29 on Thursday, Efes will stay at home and host Valencia Basket while Olympiacos will travel to face AX Armani Exchange Milan.

Shane Larkin - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB19
Friday, March 6, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; GARCIA, JUAN CARLOS; ZAMOJSKI, JAKUB
Attendance: 15022
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul29222119
Olympiacos Piraeus24171424
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul29517291
Olympiacos Piraeus24415579
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 33:21 40 3/6 10/15 4/4   3 3 5 3 1     2 4 44
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 13:21 3 0/1 1/1         1   2     3 1 -1
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 17:50 3 1/2 0/1 1/2 1   1   1       5 2 -1
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 4:22               1             1
15 SANLI, SERTAC 0:35                              
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 18:13 5 2/3 0/2 1/2 1 3 4   1 1     2 2 5
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 22:48 13 6/8 0/1 1/1 1 4 5   1 1 1   1 2 17
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 32:45 12 2/6 2/8 2/2   2 2 9 2 2     2 5 16
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 28:03 4 0/1 1/2 1/2   4 4   1       1 1 6
25 PETERS, ALEC 3:36     0/1           2           1
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 17:52 11 3/3   5/5   2 2 2         2 4 17
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 7:14   0/1     2 1 3 2   1         3
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 91 17/31 14/31 15/18 5 20 25 20 11 8 1 0 18 21 109
        54.8% 45.2% 83.3%
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 ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR 17:05 3 0/1 1/1     1 1 2 1 2     1   3
2 BALDWIN IV, WADE 16:21 8 2/3 1/2 1/2       1   3     3 1 1
3 PAUL, BRANDON 14:58 7 0/1 2/4 1/4   4 4 1         3 3 6
6 KONIARIS, ANTONIOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 BUYCKS, DWIGHT 26:21 11 2/3 2/2 1/1   3 3 8   2     2 2 19
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 17:01 10 5/5 0/3   1 3 4 1   2     1 2 11
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 21:18 9 3/7 0/1 3/4 2 2 4 1   2     1 3 8
16 PAPANIKOLAOU, KOSTAS 23:39 8 1/1 2/2     4 4 3 1 4     1   11
20 POKUSEVSKI, ALEKSEJ DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 12:49 4 1/1 0/1 2/2 1 2 3 1 2 2     3 3 7
32 ELLIS, OCTAVIUS 28:16 14 6/7   2/2 1 2 3 1 1 1   1 5 1 12
77 MCKISSIC, SHAQUIELLE 22:12 5 1/5 1/2 0/2       2 1       1 3 3
Team           1 4 5     1         4
Totals 200:00 79 21/34 9/18 10/17 6 25 31 21 6 19 0 1 21 18 85
        61.8% 50% 58.8%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It is good. We got back to our home court after a month, to our home supporters. One more sold-out game, one more fantastic game. Congratulations to my players. Of course, Shane Larkin had an amazing game, but he is an amazing player. He came back from injury in Tel Aviv, he was so-so, but it is impossible that a player like Larkin plays bad two games. Tonight, he came back with his fantastic game. Also, Micic played excellent, especially in the beginning with the pick-and-roll offense. Also, Dunston in his first [full game] back after four or five months with injury; he gave us also a good contribution. One more game that we showed our power. We have two more home games now, we will see. We said after the Maccabi game that we played in Tel Aviv with only 9 assists, our average is around 20, and Micic is a key player in those situations. Tonight, he played excellent, he scored, put everyone in great position. Excellent."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Congratulations to Efes. They have extremely good pieces of the puzzle to play at the highest level. For our younger players, it was kind of a surprise [to see ]how extremely talented Micic and Larkin are. We started the game giving them a lot of confidence. We were not tough enough to force things, we were just looking. Our defense today was not good, although I have to accept Larkin is a fantastic player. He is a hell of a player, and sometimes it is not easy to play against him. On the other side, turning the ball over 20 times is a big number. We have to control the game from our offense, being patient and not turn the ball over. But we did it, and at the same time we couldn't defend well, so we couldn't control the game even from our offense. The result is completely fair. For us, there is a positive thing with a lot of newcomers, a lot of young players who don't know exactly the quality level of the EuroLeague. We did not give up, we tried to fight for 40 minutes. After the game with Panathinaikos, which everyone knows how important that is for us, you cool down. And if your next opponent is Efes, even if you are 100 percent, you will have problems."

Players

LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"I missed a couple of weeks with my ankle injury and last week I didn't play well for my team, I missed a game-winning shot. So tonight I made it a reason to go out there and try to be effective. And luckily, the shots went in. [In the last minute], as soon as I got to the bench everybody told me I have 10 threes, and I know the record is 10 so I wanted a chance to try to break it. On the last one, I could have shot it but I tried to pass it to Adrien. I turned it over, so I might as well have shot it, but it is all good. It is another win, another step closer to clinching the first place and another good momentum-builder for our team. That is all it matters getting the win, and I am just glad we are playing better now."
MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"I feel great. It was a very important game for us to get back on track. We lost one game against Maccabi, very close, and we knew that with our better performance we could have won that game. But at the same time, we learned from that game. Tonight, we showed our potential offensively. We had a great Larkin again; I am very happy for him and his return. And I am also happy for Bryant Dunston; he had a great game and he is a big part of our team. I never plan the game, honestly. I just let the game come to me. That also comes with experience. But last game we had [9 assists] total as a team, tonight we had 20, which is usual for us during this season. We all contributed well as a team, and that was good today."
No results found.