Anadolu Efes Istanbul vs. Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

2021-22Regular SeasonRound 15

Anadolu Efes Istanbul 87

Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 72

December 14, 2021 CET: 18:30

Local time: 20:30 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Efes pulls away late to beat Baskonia

Reigning champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul got back to its winning ways by knocking off Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 87-72 at home on Tuesday night. Efes broke the game open with a 12-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters and gave up just 10 points in the final frame to snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 7-8. Last season’s Most Valuable Player Vasilije Micic paced Efes with 24 points while his dynamic backcourt partner Shane Larkin collected 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Tibor Pleiss stepped up as well with 17 points and Adrien Moerman chipped in 15 points. Baskonia failed to build on its big win last week against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and dropped to 5-10 with its eighth loss in the last nine games. Jayson Granger and Simone Fontecchio score 17 points each in the loss and Wade Baldwin IV added 10 points.

Clear the WAY ⚠️ @tibor_pleiss is coming in! #7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/fufoVd0EJB
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) December 14, 2021

Tadas Sedekerskis had a steal and layup to start the scoring for the visitors with Moerman answering at the other end. Steven Enoch added 4 points and Baskonia led 2-8 early. Granger chipped in 2 three-pointers and it was 8-16. Pleiss countered with 4 quick points only to see Baldwin’s triple extend the gap to 13-21 after 10 minutes.

Rodrigue Beaubois opened the second quarter with the first 5 points before Granger drained a triple after more than 2 minutes. A Micic three-pointer trimmed the margin to 23-24. Lamar Peters and Granger hit from deep as Baskonia pushed ahead 25-32. The three-pointers continued to rain with Larkin and Micic connecting in a 10-2 Efes run to take the lead, 35-34. The lead changed hands four times the rest of the quarter and Efes went into the locker room up 43-42.

Efes continued its sharpshooting early in the second half with Larkin and Moerman knocking down long balls in an 8-1 start for a 51-43 cushion. Sedekerskis and Fontecchio combined for all 11 points in a 2-11 Baskonia run to reclaim the lead, 53-54. Efes punched right back with 10 of the next 12 points to move ahead 63-56 and the gap was 66-62 after 30 minutes.

Pleiss opened the final frame with a dunk and Micic hit a triple in a 9-0 start for a 75-62 cushion. Rokas Giedraitis finally got the guests on the board after more than 4 minutes. But Pleiss kept going with 7 more points - including a triple - and a block as the gap extended to 82-66 with 3 minutes to play. Granger and Peters both hit from deep in the closing minutes to make the final result look a bit more bearable.

The back court duo getting it DONE #7DAYSMagicMoment pic.twitter.com/ypIxAAFayk
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) December 14, 2021

Micic in MVP form

Vasilije Micic made sure that Anadolu Efes Istanbul would not lose a third straight game as last season’s Most Valuable Player showed up big time in a game the reigning champs knew they needed to win. Micic poured in 24 points against Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz as he made 5 of 8 two-pointers, 3 of 5 three-pointers and all 5 of his free throws. On top of that, he added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 6 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 31. He only committed 1 turnover in more than 27 minutes of action.

Season high for Granger

One of the bright spots for Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Tuesday was a strong offensive showing by Jayson Granger. He buried 5 three-pointers in scoring 17 points, a season-high for the 32-year-old. Granger also grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 3 assists for an index rating of 17. The 5 three-pointers were one off his career-best. It was the fourth time in his career that he drained five triples in a game - and the first since December 3, 2020, when he was playing for ALBA Berlin against Valencia Basket.

Baskonia can’t survive turnover problems

The stats for the game were actually quite similar with both teams shooting about 50.0% on two-pointers and about 30.0% from long range. Anadolu Efes Istanbul had 3 more made free throws and both teams had about the same number of rebounds and offensive rebounds. But the glaring difference was turnovers. Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz committed 18 turnovers while Efes lost the ball just 8 times. Efes did not take that much of an advantage in the points off turnovers category - 15 to 11 - but it was the lost momentum that Baskonia regularly had to deal with and overcome.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB21

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Euroleague.net

Referees: PUKL,SASA; PANTHER, ANNE; KOWALSKI, MARCIN

Attendance: 9617

By Quarter	1	2	3	4
Anadolu Efes Istanbul	13	30	23	21
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz	21	21	20	10

End of Quarter	1	2	3	4
Anadolu Efes Istanbul	13	43	66	87
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz	21	42	62	72

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	35:58	16	2/4	2/6	6/7	1	6	7	4	2	1		1	2	7	25
1	BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE	15:50	7	2/3	1/4		1	1	2	1	1	1				2	8
2	SINGLETON, CHRIS	6:41		0/1	0/1						1						-1
6	BRYANT, ELIJAH	21:55	2	1/3	0/2		1	3	4	3			1	1	1	1	5
18	MOERMAN, ADRIEN	33:21	15	3/4	3/7		2	4	6	1	1		1		1		18
19	TUNCER, BUGRAHAN	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
21	PLEISS, TIBOR	23:01	17	7/14	1/2		4	1	5	1	1	1	1		3	1	14
22	MICIC, VASILIJE	27:22	24	5/8	3/5	5/5		4	4	4	2	1			3	6	31
23	ANDERSON, JAMES	1:50
33	PETRUSEV, FILIP	9:06	6	3/4			1	1	2	1		1					7
42	DUNSTON, BRYANT	6:01						2	2			2			3		-3
44	SIMON, KRUNOSLAV	18:55		0/2	0/3		2	2	4	1		1			1		-2
	Team							2	2								2
	Totals	200:00	87	23/43	10/30	11/12	12	26	38	16	8	8	3	2	14	17	104
				53.5%	33.3%	91.7%

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

Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

							Rebounds						Blocks		Fouls
#	Player	Min	Pts	2FG	3FG	FT	O	D	T	As	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	PIR
1	PETERS, LAMAR	23:41	9	0/1	3/4		1	1	2	3		4		1	3		4
5	BALDWIN IV, WADE	23:57	10	3/5	1/2	1/1		3	3	2		3		1	4	5	9
7	BARRERA, ALEJANDRO	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	SEDEKERSKIS, TADAS	23:21	8	4/6	0/2		2	6	8	1	1	1	1		1		13
9	MARINKOVIC, VANJA	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	GRANGER, JAYSON	32:14	17	0/3	5/9	2/2		4	4	3		2			2	4	17
20	FONTECCHIO, SIMONE	28:49	17	8/8	0/5	1/1		1	1	3		2			1	1	14
23	ENOCH, STEVEN	27:11	5	1/7	0/1	3/4	3	6	9	2		1	1	1	3	2	6
24	COSTELLO, MATTHEW	10:44		0/1	0/3		2	1	3		1	2			2		-4
31	GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS	17:20	5	1/3	1/4			3	3			2					1
35	NNOKO, LANDRY	12:42	1			1/2	3	1	4						1	2	5
47	KURUCS, ARTURS	0:01													1		-1
	Team						1	2	3			1					2
	Totals	200:00	72	17/34	10/30	8/10	12	28	40	14	2	18	2	3	18	14	66
				50%	33.3%	80%

Head coach: SPAHIJA, NEVEN

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

“Of course it was an important victory for us, especially after the loss to Barcelona. We didn’t play well tonight on offense. We missed a lot of shots but after Micic took over we played with a bit more organization. He played great tonight, with only 1 turnover. That is very important for us. Larkin was also very important. He missed some shots but he had a great effort. In the last quarter, we played good defense and controlled the rebounds. That was important for our game. It’s the EuroLeague, so every game is difficult."

SPAHIJA, NEVEN

Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz

“Congratulations to Efes for having a better game than us tonight. In general, they played better basketball. We played at their level probably for the first 10 minutes. But once Micic came into the game everything changed. He controlled the game very well. We couldn’t find a way to stop their pick-and-roll. And once again, our sickness was 18 turnovers. It would definitely help us if we played better pick-and-roll and commit fewer turnovers. If we want to play games at this level, we definitely need to play much better than we did tonight. But at least we fought. We have to be positive and think about the next game and stay together.”

Players

MICIC, VASILIJE

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

“The key moment was the beginning of the game. Even though we didn’t play well offensively, we set the tone defensively. Every player was aggressive and remained aggressive the whole game. And that was the key today. Offensively we can always find some way to score, but defensively we decide the games. I think that was the key today.”

LARKIN, SHANE

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

“The first game of the double-round week, it’s always important to get that win and go into the second game with confidence. We struggled in the first quarter but each quarter after that we picked it up defensively. We got into our game how we want to play offensively and came out with the win. It’s always important to take care of the ball, especially at home and especially against a team like that who likes to get out in transition, run and shoot a lot of threes. We put a lot of emphasis on taking care of the ball tonight and getting good shots and playing aggressive on defense, and it worked in our favor.”