2018-19Regular SeasonRound 18
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 81
Khimki Moscow Region 72
January 10, 2019 CET: 18:00
Local time: 20:00 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Micic leads Efes past Khimki

Anadolu Efes Istanbul maintained its grip of fourth place in the standings with a commanding 81-72 home victory over Khimki Moscow Region. The hosts took command with an 11-0 run in the second quarter and never trailed after that, improving to 12-6 for the season. Vasilije Micic led the victors with 16 points and 8 assists, while James Anderson, Adrien Moerman and Bryant Dunston all scored 11. Jordan Mickey registered 14 points and 9 rebounds in defeat for Khimki, which never gave up and came within 6 points in the final quarter, but dropped to 7-11 to end a two-game winning run.

Baskets were traded evenly in the opening exchanges, with Vladimir Micov scoring twice for Efes, but Andrey Zubkov bettering that with three scores for Khimki. The hosts surged ahead with an 11-0 run, including a three-pointer from Rodrigue Beaubois and a big slam for Brock Motum, for a 20-12 lead. Tony Crocker stopped the rot, but Motum netted a triple and it was 23-16 at the end of the first. A driving layup-and-one from Shane Larkin started the second quarter, but Mickey scored twice in a 0-9 run to bring Khimki back. Moerman, Garlon Green and Micic all struck from deep before a mid-range jumper from Charles Jenkins made it 36-34 at the half. A four-point play from Micic and a triple by Dogus Balbay started the second half and the lead extended to double digits with a smart close-range finish from Dunston, who soon scored again to take his team past 50 points. Free throws advanced the lead to 57-40 as Khimki struggled to get anything going on offense, but Mickey sparked a recovery by scoring twice, including a buzzer-beating triple to make it 62-51 with one quarter remaining. A three-point play from Mickey brought the margin down to single figures and a long-range strike from Jenkins made it 70-64. But a three-point play from Dunston gave Efes breathing room and Moerman and Krunoslav Simon both scored to extinguish any doubt.

Team effort sparks Efes

Only Vasilije Micic went past a dozen points for Efes, but that didn’t matter because it was a real team effort from Ergin Ataman’s men. All 10 players who took to the court for the home side scored at least 4 points and an impressive total of 25 assists – the team’s second-highest of the season – were nicely spread among seven different players, including 6 for Rodrigue Beaubois and 4 from Dogus Balbay

Efes takes better care of the ball

The first half was close partly because Khimki crashed the boards to claim 6 offensive rebounds before Efes had any. That – along with 8 first-half turnovers committed by Efes – allowed the visiting team to take 37 shots before the break while Efes had attempted only 26. But Efes committed fewer turnovers (3) and allowed only 1 more offensive rebound after the break and surged clear as a result.

Long-range woes harm Khimki

A major reason why Khimki couldn’t capitalize on all those extra shots was inaccurate long-range shooting. The visiting team started 0-of-7 from three-point range and only marginally improved as the game went on, finishing with just 6 conversions from 26 tries (23.1%). Khimki also struggled to share the ball, dishing just 11 assists.

Next round

Efes is at home again next week with a local derby against Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul and Khimki remains on the road with a trip to Olympiacos Piraeus.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB18
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; MANTYLA, PETRI; KOWALSKI, MARCIN
Attendance: 4230
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul23132619
Khimki Moscow Region16181721
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul23366281
Khimki Moscow Region16345172
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 11:10 5 1/1   3/4   2 2 1   2       2 7
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 20:35 5 1/4 1/3     1 1 6   2   1 1 1 4
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 20:43 7 2/4 1/1   3 2 5 4   2     2 3 13
6 BIRSEN, METECAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 MOTUM, BROCK 10:45 7 2/4 1/2                       4
15 SANLI, SERTAC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 28:24 11 3/4 1/4 2/2 1 8 9 1 2 1     1 1 18
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 14:09 4 2/2     1 6 7           3 1 9
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 27:32 16 2/4 3/6 3/3       8 1     1 2 4 21
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 19:15 11 2/4 1/4 4/4   2 2       1     3 12
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 26:42 11 4/5   3/5 1 4 5 2   1   1 1 5 17
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 20:45 4 1/1 0/1 2/2   3 3 3 2 3     4 2 6
Team             1 1     2         -1
Totals 200:00 81 20/33 8/21 17/20 6 29 35 25 5 13 1 3 14 22 110
        60.6% 38.1% 85%
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
Khimki Moscow Region
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 BOST, DEE 14:58 2 1/1 0/2   2 1 3 3         3   3
5 CROCKER, TONY 22:22 12 4/7 0/3 4/4 1 1 2 2 3 2   1 2 3 11
6 VIALTSEV, EGOR 15:08 4   1/2 1/1         1       1   3
7 GREEN, GARLON 14:08 5 1/5 1/2   1   1           1 1 1
8 ZAITCEV, VIACHESLAV 2:25                         2   -2
9 MARKOVIC, STEFAN 28:08 8 1/3 2/3     3 3 1 1       3 1 8
12 MONIA, SERGEY 2:26                              
13 GILL, ANTHONY 26:54 10 4/5 0/3 2/2   3 3 1   1     2 3 10
20 ZUBKOV, ANDREY 10:40 8 4/6               1       1 6
22 JENKINS, CHARLES 22:51 7 1/2 1/5 2/2 1 2 3 1         3 1 4
23 THOMAS, MALCOLM 12:41 2 1/3 0/1         1 1 2     3 1 -3
25 MICKEY, JORDAN 27:19 14 5/8 1/5 1/1 2 7 9 2 1 1 3   3 3 21
Team           2 1 3               3
Totals 200:00 72 22/40 6/26 10/10 9 18 27 11 7 7 3 1 23 14 65
        55% 23.1% 100%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
“We are really happy because it was a difficult week for us and we got two victories, so it’s a big advantage on the road to playoffs. It’s a big step for us. The players put hustle, were active on defense and shared the ball well on offense. Khimki never gave up, they came here with two victories, but in the third quarter we played perfect to win the game.”
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
Khimki Moscow Region
“First of all I would like to congratulate Efes. They have a very strong team. We should have played with more creativity. We are a passing team but today we had 11 assists and Efes had 25. We took a lot of on-ball decisions and didn’t share the ball as we usually do. This is not our game. We had a chance to win the game but we should have played better both defensively and offensively. I cannot complain. We are progressing; we are playing better but if you want to win games like this you have to play as a team, not individually.”

Players

MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
“I’m happy that we won the second game in a row. The double week is not easy, but the first game was very good against Zalgiris and today we continued playing the same way. Everything starts from team defense, we have a great capacity to play defense and I think we will get better in that part of the game.”
ANDERSON, JAMES
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
“Good win for us, take care of homecourt advantage and keep the winning streak going. I tried to spark the team off the bench and get the easy buckets, and my teammates did a good job for me. Defense will win us games and make us a top team to compete for the Final Four.”