2020-21PlayoffsGame 2
April 22, 2021 CET: 19:00
Local time: 20:00 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Efes roars in taking 2-0 series lead

Anadolu Efes Istanbul assumed full control of its Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs duel by routing visiting Real Madrid 91-68 on Thursday at Sinan Erdem Sports Hall to take a 2-0 lead in their their-best-of-five series. Efes outscored Real in all four quarters, getting at least 21 in each quarter and twice holding the visitors to 13. Vasilije Micic scored 23 points on near-perfect shooting to lead the Efes attack, Shane Larkin added 21 points and 5 assists and Rodrigue Beaubois contributed 11 points and 6 assists. Real, which was without star center Walter Tavares, was led by Trey Thompkins's 17 points. Rudy Fernandez added 11 points and Nicolas Laprovittola delivered 10 assists in defeat.

Thompkins opened the scoring with a jumper before Larkin broke the ice for Efes with a free throw. Thompkins remained hot with a triple and a baseline jumper, but Efes matched him shot for shot with the score at 7-7. Efes started to pull away with a Krunoslav Simon jumper and a Larkin layup. Back-to-back threes by Micic and Larkin capped a 10-1 run that made it 20-10. Fernandez gave the visitors a lift off the bench, but a jumper by Simon made it 22-13 after 10 minutes. Real's offense found a spark as Alex Tyus and Usman Garuba fed each other for dunks, however, Efes continued to cruise and a jumper by Beaubois made it 31-19 before Real called timeout. The teams kept trading points with the margin remaining in the 10-point range. Beaubois's jumper beat the halftime buzzer to give his team a 44-32 lead at the break.

Efes extended the lead through baskets by Larkin and Beaubois. A basket-plus-foul by the former made it 50-33. Felipe Reyes banked in a shot for Real's first basket of the half – nearly 4 minutes into the third quarter. Back-to-back threes by Micic and Sertac Sanli pushed the margin into the 20s. Reyes and Fernandez provided Real resistance, but free throws by Larkin ended the third quarter with the hosts leading 65-45. Tristan Vukcevic dunked for his first EuroLeague points, but Efes kept scoring and Micic pushed the hosts ahead 71-47 with a finger roll. The lead peaked at 87-60 on a deep three by Micic in the closing minutes as Efes claimed another convincing win to improve to 2-0 in the series.

Changes in the starting 5s

Only Nicolas Laprovittola and Jeffery Taylor have started both of the first two games of the series for Real Madrid. Alex Tyus, who did not play at all in Game 1, was joined by Trey Thompkins and Usman Garuba as the newcomers to the Real lineup. They replaced Alberto Abaldes, rookie Tristan Vukcevic and the injured Walter Tavares. Efes's only change in the lineup was opening with Shane Larkin in place of Rodrigue Beaubois.

Pivotal player

Vasilije Micic led the Efes attack with 23 points on near-perfect shooting. He made 4 of 5 two-pointers and was perfect in 5 tries from behind the arc. He added 4 rebounds and 3 assists in compiling a performance index rating of 26. Micic bounced back after going for just 7 points on 1-of-9 shooting in Game 1.

Telling numbers

Efes took fewer three-pointers than Real and made three times as many shots from downtown! Efes connected on 12 of 20 threes (60%) while Real struggled and connected on only 4 of 25 (16%).

Oldest to score

Real veteran Felipe Reyes netted a season-high 6 points in becoming the oldest player to score in a EuroLeague game. Reyes, the competition's all-time leading offensive rebounder, was 41 years, 1 month and 6 days old on the night of this game.

What's next?

The series resumes on Tuesday, April 27, in the Spanish capital for Game 3 in which Efes will try to become the first team to clinch a berth at the 2021 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. However, Real won't go down without a fight and will try to at least force a Game 4 on Thursday, April 29.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB20
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: BOLTAUZER, MATEJ; DIFALLAH, MEHDI; RACYS, SAULIUS
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul22222126
Real Madrid13191323
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul22446591
Real Madrid13324568
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 33:03 21 3/7 3/5 6/8   1 1 5   2     3 7 21
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 18:32 11 4/7 1/2         6   1   1 1 1 11
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 15:51 4 0/1 1/2 1/2 2   2     1     2 1 1
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 2:44           1 1           1    
15 SANLI, SERTAC 19:52 7 1/2 1/2 2/2 1 2 3     1     3 2 6
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 24:09 9 3/4 1/2     4 4 1 1 1     2 1 11
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN 2:02               1             1
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 4:51 1     1/2   1 1 1 1 1     2 1 1
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 28:25 23 4/5 5/5     4 4 3   3     3 3 26
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 8:56 2     2/2   2 2     1     2 1 2
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 15:17 6 3/6     1 1 2   1       1   5
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 26:18 7 3/3 0/2 1/2   4 4 1   2 1   1 2 9
Team           3 7 10               10
Totals 200:00 91 21/35 12/20 13/18 7 27 34 18 3 13 1 1 21 19 104
        60% 60% 72.2%
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 8:02 2 1/1 0/1     2 2     1         2
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 23:25 11 1/2 2/6 3/3   1 1   3       1 2 11
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 9:31           2 2 1   1         2
7 TYUS, ALEX 18:24 5 2/5   1/2 3 1 4 2   2     3 1 3
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 26:24 5 0/2 0/4 5/7 3 2 5 10 2 1     2 5 16
9 REYES, FELIPE 8:17 6 2/5 0/1 2/2 1 1 2 1       1   3 7
11 VUKCEVIC, TRISTAN 12:19 7 3/3 0/2 1/1 1 1 2     1     5 1 2
16 GARUBA, USMAN 31:11 9 4/4   1/2 2 4 6 1 1 1 1   2 2 16
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 12:02   0/3 0/2     1 1           3 2 -5
23 LLULL, SERGIO 13:31 4 2/5 0/3   1 1 2 2         1 2 3
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 21:54 17 4/5 2/5 3/3   1 1     1     2 1 12
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 15:00 2 1/2 0/1   1 1 2 1   1       2 4
Team                     2         -2
Totals 200:00 68 20/37 4/25 16/20 12 18 30 18 6 11 1 1 19 21 71
        54.1% 16% 80%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"One more time we played great defense, great basketball. Especially with our guards, they played excellent tonight; Micic and Larkin and all of the others, also like a team. We did a great job. One more time we took a victory with a huge difference. We need to win one more game. Now it's 2-0. We will play again in Madrid. Every game is difficult. We know also tonight they missed their best player, Tavares, so it's very important for them in that situation. They changed the strategy in the first half, so we had some confusion to attack with their three bigs. But in the second half, we talked and we knew what we needed to do. We didn’t make the turnovers and we made the shots and it was the difference."
LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"First of all, congratulations to Efes for the victory. I think, a little bit like the other day, our first half was kind of solid. We had some mistakes defensively that hurt us. But also we were not able to get baskets. We were not shooting with good percentages and then in the second half, they opened the scoreboard and when you give Efes that kind of lead, they manage the game very well. That's it. We will be ready for the next one."

Players

LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"Last game we didn't shoot it as well as we usually do from three, so we improved that tonight. Overall, we just played a better game. I think that’s what you have to do. Although we won by a lot of points, you still have to try to improve and I think we did that tonight. They gave us some different looks, made it a little challenging for us, but we figured it out and got another big win at home. They are gonna come out and fight [in Game 3]. You never want to lose on your home court, especially if that's an elimination game, so they are gonna come out and fight. They are gonna give everything they have. So we have to just go there with the same mindset. We can’t feel good about ourselves because we're up 2-0, you've gotta win three. So we'll enjoy this one tonight, forget about it tomorrow and start preparing for the next game."
MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We have one more game and then we'll see. It's just 2-0. We've played so far two very good games at home. Definitely, they are a team that you can never count on to give up. We know that. We are going to prepare for the next game the same as we prepared for the game today. Many times I've said, I never plan the game. I play as the game comes to me. Today was a good day for shooting, we'll see what happens next time. The most important thing is that all our players contributed today."
FERNANDEZ, RUDY
Real Madrid
"We ran into a really solid team. We saw ourselves a little out of synch due to their game and their shooting accuracy. Also, for us to miss a player like Edy Tavares, as we did today, you’re talking about a very good player. But above all, I believe we have to improve our attitude. You can win or you can lose, but you always have to represent the club and its fans by fighting until the end. But in these two games, it was difficult. We sank too fast. We'll try to get our players recovered now. We know how good a team we are facing, but we'll try to change the dynamic of these two losses and get back some good sensations ahead of the next game at home."
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