2019-20Regular SeasonRound 16
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 99
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 79
December 26, 2019 CET: 18:30
Local time: 20:30 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Micic, Beaubois shoot Efes past Maccabi

Anadolu Efes Istanbul overpowered Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv 99-79 on Thursday night at Sinan Erdem Dome to keep at least a share of first place in the standings. Efes used runs of 10-0 in the second quarter and 12-0 in the third to break the game open and kept the lead in the neighborhood of 20 points for most of the fourth quarter. Efes improved its record to 13-3 and dropped Maccabi to 11-5. Vasilije Micic led the winners with 23 points plus 5 assists, Rodrigue Beaubois netted 22 points with 4 steals, Krunoslav Simon scored 19, Shane Larkin 15 and Tibor Pleiss 11. Jake Cohen scored 15 points for Maccabi, Scottie Wilbekin added 12 and Angelo Caloiaro 10.

Tough defense characterized the early action as the team stood tied 5-5 through 4 minutes. Wilbekin's four-point play put the visitors in control and a Quincy Acy slam made it 8-13. An Efes timeout changed things as Simon drilled a three-pointer and tipped in his own miss as part of a 7-0 run to take the lead. Simon scored twice more to help Efes to a 23-19 lead, but more of concern to Maccabi was that Wilbekin went to the locker room with an apparent ankle injury in the final minute of the opening quarter. Deni Avdija and Jake Cohen formed a frontcourt partnership to keep Maccabi close in the first few minutes of the second quarter. Avdija tied it at 34-34 midway through the second quarter and Jake Cohen scored next to put the visitors ahead, at which point Efes called another timeout. Beaubois connected on a pair of threes that ignited a 10-0 run in which he scored all the points to put Efes back in control, 44-36. Wilbekin reentered the game for Maccabi, but was unable to make an impact. Beaubois's steal and layup gave the hosts a double-digit advantage, though a three on the halftime buzzer by Yovel Zoosman made it 48-41 at the break.

Wilbekin banked in a three to start the second half, but soon Simon and Beaubois led Efes on a 12-0 run that made it 60-44. Micic added a pair of triples as the difference reached 20. Efes did not let up after that and Pleiss got in on the action with a pair of buckets to make it 80-58 at the end of the third quarter. Maccabi showed signs of life with the first 5 points of the fourth quarter, which Coach Ataman reacted to with a timeout. Pleiss responded with a three and a put-back and the hosts started to cruise again. Larkin put the finishing touches on the game as he drew a second unsportsmanlike foul from Tyler Dorsey, which disqualified the Maccabi guard. The visitors battled until the final buzzer, but Efes already had the game in its pocket.

Game-changing moment

Maccabi battled hard to grab a 34-36 lead midway through the second quarter, but then Rodrigue Beaubois came alive. The Efes guard buried back-to-back three-pointers, added another basket and turned a steal into 2 free throws for a 10-0 run of his own, from which the Israeli champs never recovered.

Telling numbers

Efes enjoyed an extraordinary three-point shooting game in going 16 for 28 from downtown. Not only was the team within a single three of the club record, but its 57.1% conversion rate was the highest in club history for a game with more than 20 three-pointers attempted. Vasilije Micic led the way with 5 makes from 7 tries from downtown, Rodrigue Beaubois was 4 of 7 and Krunoslav Simon 3 for 4.

Injuries strike Maccabi again

Already without starters Tarik Black, Omri Casspi and Nate Wolters, Maccabi was struck again by the injury bug when Scottie Wilbekin went down with an apparent ankle injury in the final minute of the first quarter. He left the court and went to the locker room to have his ankle re-taped and returned to play a couple of minutes in both the second and third quarters, but did not seem to be himself and sat out the final 15 minutes of the game.

Efes's winning record vs. Maccabi.

With this win, Efes now has a winning record in the competition against Maccabi, 9-8. The Turkish champs have now won six of the seven meetings between them over the past five years.

What's next?

Maccabi remains on the road for its first game of 2020 when it visits Zalgiris Kaunas on Thursday, January 2. The following evening, Efes hosts Khimki Moscow Region.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB19
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; PERUGA, CARLOS; MANTYLA, PETRI
Attendance: 15003
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul23253219
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv19221721
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul23488099
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv19415879
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 30:02 15 3/4 2/4 3/3 2 3 5 4 1 3   1 2 5 21
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 26:49 22 4/6 4/7 2/2   2 2 2 4 3       1 23
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 29:02 3   1/3   1 5 6 2 2 1 1   2 1 10
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 1:35           1 1   1           2
15 SANLI, SERTAC 19:46 4 2/3       3 3 2   1 1   2 2 8
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 5:01 2 1/1 0/1             1     1   -1
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 14:52 11 4/6 1/1   2 2 4     1 1   1 3 15
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 29:15 23 3/8 5/7 2/2   2 2 5   2     3 3 21
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 3:15           2 2   1 1         2
25 PETERS, ALEC 11:19   0/1 0/1     1 1       1   2   -2
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 29:04 19 4/9 3/4 2/2 1 4 5 3 1 1       1 22
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 99 21/38 16/28 9/9 8 27 35 18 10 14 4 1 13 16 125
        55.3% 57.1% 100%
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
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 BRYANT, ELIJAH 20:28 7 2/4 1/1     2 2 5 1 1     2 1 11
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 17:38 12   3/6 3/3       1 1 2       2 11
2 ACY, QUINCY 20:00 4 1/2 0/4 2/2 1 2 3   1 1       2 4
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 22:27 10 1/2 2/3 2/2 2 4 6 1   1     1 1 14
5 HUNTER, OTHELLO 20:57 9 4/7   1/1 3 3 6 1   1     1 1 12
6 COHEN, SANDY 12:28 3 1/4   1/2       1       1 1 1 -1
8 AVDIJA, DENI 23:24 6 2/4 0/4 2/4 2 4 6 6 1       3 2 10
11 DORSEY, TYLER 19:04 8 1/6 2/6   1 1 2 2 2 1   1 4 1  
15 COHEN, JAKE 19:03 15 6/8 1/2   4   4 2 1 2   1 3 1 14
50 ZOOSMAN, YOVEL 24:31 5 1/5 1/4   2 4 6 2   4 1 1 1 1 2
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 79 19/42 10/30 11/14 16 21 37 21 7 13 1 4 16 13 79
        45.2% 33.3% 78.6%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"In the first half, we didn't start the game so aggressive the way we prepared. We gave easy easy shots to Wilbekin, who found easy 9 points in the first quarter. Then we changed the strategy, we changed the matchups. We put Dogus on the court to put pressure on him. We started to use Beaubois on offense, because in our pick-and-roll offense, especially against Larkin, they played aggressive with Zoosman, they played a double team and they didn't let Larkin find his open way to score. We changed strategy and Beaubois was very hot today. He found his shots, he made them, so we continued with this system. We used Krunoslav Simon in the pick-and-roll situations, so we attacked Scottie Wilbekin. He was very good in scoring, but also on defense our strategy was to attack him with his player and we changed the control of the game in the first half. In the second half, we started more aggressive with aggressive defense; we stole the ball. Beaubois was very aggressive. Micic was involved in the game when they started to play switching man on defense and Singleton put great hustle in rebounds and also offense. So Pleiss and Sertac, okay, they made some mistakes. It is normal, they had some problems because they are slower than Othello Hunter. Anyway, they found their points. We won the game by 20 points, which is very important for us to win the game and get the point difference.”
SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
"I want to congratulate Efes for the win. They played much better and they deserved to win, especially as they played in the second half. I think in the first half we started the game good and we were in the game. Unfortunately in the second period, we turned the ball over six times and we gave up 10 fastbreak points. This hurt us, because these fastbreak points we lost the contact with the score. But for me, the most important part of the game was the third period when we allowed 32 points and we were not defending tough. After the first 5 minutes, they scored 18 points, we didn't make 1 foul. In the third period, they scored 32 total points and we still had 2 fouls to give. This showed that we were not focused to play smart on defense and be tough and to avoid some baskets that we could have avoided. Efes has good quality. If you don't play tough and you allow them to feel comfortable and to shoot however the rhythm goes, if you don't break the rhythm, it's very difficult to stop them. That's why they scored 99 points. They have the quality, they have the experience. After that, we were fighting and we scored close to 80 points, but defensively we were not very good. We need to learn from this game to play much better, much tougher."

Players

PLEISS, TIBOR
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"I think it was a good game. In the last few days, the coach has talked about how important it would be to win against Maccabi because of the standings and I think, especially in the third quarter, we did a great job. Rodrigue Beaubois Made a lot of three-point shots and then Micic made three-point shots as well. We had a great run, we were up by 20 points and this was really important for us. Now we have to keep going, but this game for sure helped us a lot.”