2020-21PlayoffsGame 1
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 90
Real Madrid 63
April 20, 2021 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Efes dominates second half to beat Real

Anadolu Efes Istanbul dominated the second half en route to a 90-63 rout of Real Madrid in Game 1 of their best-of-five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs series on Tuesday night at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall. The hosts doubled up the visitors 46-23 in the third and fourth quarters to take control of a game that had been even, 39-39, late in the second quarter. Rodrigue Beaubois paced the Efes attack with 19 points and Sertac Sanli shined with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Shane Larkin contributed 14 points and 5 assists, Bryant Dunston added 11 points and Krunoslav Simon paired 10 points with 6 assists. Trey Thompkins led Real with 13 points and Walter Tavares posted 10 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Real Madrid won the opening tip and Nicolas Laprovittola went right inside to Tavares. Back-to-back threes by Laprovittola and Alberto Abalde caused the hosts to call an urgent timeout at 0-8. Sanli got Efes on the scoreboard with free throws and Larkin came off the bench to strike from downtown. Laprovittola extended the Real lead to 5-11 with a three-point play that also drew an early second foul from Vasilije Micic. Threes by Sertac Sanli and Simon bookended an 8-0 run that gave Efes its first lead, 15-14. The lead switched hands a few more times before the quarter finished at 20-18. Beaubois opened the second quarter with a triple and his layup soon made it 27-20. Back-to-back threes by Fabien Causeur and Rudy Fernandez trimmed the gap to 31-30. Micic heated up for Efes with a triple and 2 free throws. Laprovittola drained a three over Larkin to knot the game at 39-39. A three-pointer by Beaubois gave the hosts a 44-40 edge at the break.

Back-to-back threes by Simon and Sanli gave Efes the game's first double-digit lead early in the second half. Sanli contributed a three-point play on one end and a block on the other as Efes extended the lead to 53-42. Real missed 12 of its first 13 shots in the second half – including all 8 from behind the arc. In the meantime, Sanli remained hot for Efes in stretching the lead to 58-43. Real called timeout down 17 to try to reboot. A jumper by Thompkins and three by Sergio Llull gave Real hope before Dunston's put-back made it 64-50 at the end of the third quarter. Moerman heated up early in the fourth quarter and Beaubois's tip-in extended the margin into the 20s. The lead peaked at 85-58 on a James Anderson three with 4 minutes remaining and Efes coasted the rest of the way.

By the numbers

Efes outrebounded Real 45-34, outscored the visitors from every range (51.4% 2FG, 38.9% 3FG, 92.3% FT% to 37.9 2FG, 30.3% 3FG, 68.8%) and committed only 9 turnovers to Real's 13.

Second-half blues

Real Madrid's second-half point tally of 23 was the worst ever for the club in a playoff game and 1 off the club record-low in any playoff game. FC Barcelona held Real to 25 second-half points in a 68-61 victory in the opening game of their 2010 playoff series. Barcelona went on to with the title that season.

Did you notice?

Tristan Vukcevic started for Real in what was his EuroLeague debut and contributed a lot of energy in the 6:31 he played in the first quarter. He finished the game with 2 rebounds and 1 block in 12:15 minutes. Since the EuroLeague adopted the current playoff structure in 2005, Vukcevic is the first player to make his EuroLeague debut in a playoff game.

What's next?

Efes will host Game 2 of this best-of-five series on Thursday evening in the same arena.

Sertac Sanli - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB20
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; PUKL,SASA; TRAWICKI, TOMASZ
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20242026
Real Madrid18221013
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20446490
Real Madrid18405063
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 32:36 14 2/4 3/10 1/1   2 2 5   1     1 6 16
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 22:46 19 5/8 3/6   2 3 5 1   1   1 5   12
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 15:10     0/1     3 3 1         1 1 3
11 GAZI, ERTEN 1:44 3   1/1     1 1               4
15 SANLI, SERTAC 20:12 16 3/6 2/4 4/4 1 7 8   1 1 2 2 3 3 19
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 24:50 7 2/2 1/3   2 4 6 1 1   2   1 1 15
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN 3:01     0/1   1 1 2               1
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 1:44                              
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 23:09 7 0/4 1/5 4/4 1 1 2 5 2 2   1 3 3 5
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 9:06 3 0/1 1/1                       2
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 18:04 11 5/6   1/2 5 1 6 1         4 1 13
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 27:38 10 1/4 2/4 2/2   4 4 6   2       2 15
Team           2 4 6     2         4
Totals 200:00 90 18/35 14/36 12/13 14 31 45 20 4 9 4 4 18 17 109
        51.4% 38.9% 92.3%
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
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 CAUSEUR, FABIEN 26:11 6 1/3 0/4 4/5   1 1 1 1     1 1 3 3
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 13:24 3   1/3     2 2               3
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 19:56 5 0/2 1/5 2/2   5 5 1 1 1     1 2 6
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 17:59 9 1/2 2/5 1/1   2 2 4 1 2   1 1 5 13
11 VUKCEVIC, TRISTAN 12:15     0/2   1 1 2     2 1   2   -3
12 ALOCEN, CARLOS 6:13 2 1/1           1   1         2
16 GARUBA, USMAN 28:44 5 2/2 0/2 1/2 1 1 2     2 1   2 1 2
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 11:11 4 0/3 1/2 1/1                   1 1
22 TAVARES, WALTER 22:19 10 4/8   2/5 3 6 9     3 2   3 3 11
23 LLULL, SERGIO 15:48 3 0/3 1/3     2 2 2   1   1 1 2 1
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 15:50 13 2/2 3/5     3 3 1         2   13
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 10:10 3 0/3 1/2   1 2 3     1   1 4   -4
Team           3   3               3
Totals 200:00 63 11/29 10/33 11/16 9 25 34 10 3 13 4 4 17 17 51
        37.9% 30.3% 68.8%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"Except for the beginning of the game when we gave them a 0-8, the game started with a Real Madrid advantage. We played terrible defense in the first 2 minutes. Then we made perfect defense all game. We closed very well to their shots, we didn’t let them play their pick-and-roll easily, we controlled the rebounds and also in the first half, we played our basketball, but missed the open shots. In the second half, we started to make our shots. We got the point difference and started to play with more confidence. Of course, this is a playoff game; it doesn't matter if you win by 1 point or 27 points. It's just 1-0 and we need to prepare for Thursday's game."
LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"Congratulations to Efes on the victory. They really outplayed us in the second half. I think our first half was pretty solid. We missed some easy shots that could have given us an advantage in the game, but we were playing solid in the first half. We were 4 points down [at halftime]. The feeling was the team is playing solid and we were in the game. But if you are not able to play like that, concentrate during 40 minutes, then Efes is a very good team and that's what happened in the second half. They opened up the scoreboard and they played with a lot of confidence after getting the advantage on the scoreboard. So congratulations to them. The game is finished. Let's start to think about the next one."

Players

MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"I feel okay. [The injury] was an accidental situation. We will see. I hope I am fine... We didn’t perform well in the beginning. I would say I played solid, but I missed some shots and that's part of the game. But today we had a lot of good players who had good performances, especially Roddy Beaubois, who had a tremendous game, but that's through the whole season our quality. But it's just 1-0, no matter if you win by 1 or by 50, it's the same and we have to forget this and get ready for the next one… Today we started slow, but at the end, we made some shots. We were constantly aggressive during the game, especially when the second five came on the curt. They didn’t stop, they just pushed it and then all of us just followed that. That was the key today."
SANLI, SERTAC
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It's a good thing to start the playoffs with a win like this, but it's just one game. We need to keep the defense we had in the second and third games and I am sure we will qualify for the Final Four. I feel great, but this is teamwork. We did this all together. That's it. We need to keep doing the same thing in the second game."
LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS
Real Madrid
"They came at us with energy and we didn’t have that. They punished us with good shooting percentages and after we got behind, things didn’t go well for us in the second half. Now we have to think of Thursday’s game and lift our heads. We will have to play a complete game for 40 minutes with intensity as a team, everyone united and committed.”
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