2020-21Regular SeasonRound 23
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 66
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 90
March 16, 2021 CET: 18:30
Local time: 19:30 MENORA MIVTACHIM ARENA

Efes downs Maccabi for 8th straight win

Anadolu Efes Istanbul took a step closer to qualifying for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs with a 66-90 road win at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in their postponed Round 23 game on Tuesday. Efes led from tipoff to buzzer and was up by as many as 30 points in the fourth quarter on the way to a 19-10 record and its eighth consecutive victory. Maccabi fell to 11-17 and is all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with its sixth loss in the last seven games. Shane Larkin and Vasilije Micic led the winners with 15 points apiece, while Kruno Simon and Tibor Pleiss added 10 each while missing just 1 shot between them. Scottie Wilbekin led Maccabi with 15 points while Ante Zizic scored 14 and Tyler Dorsey 10.

Sertac Sanli, Micic and Simon gave Efes a quick lead before Omri Casspi's second basket and feed to Zizic cut the difference to 6-8. Micic busted his second triple while Adrien Moerman assisted Simon and scored twice himself to make it 11-17. Maccabi's free throws were offset by Larkin drilling from deep at 15-20. Simon and Othello Hunter traded points for a 17-22 Efes lead after 10 minutes. James Anderson hit from long-distance and Pleiss dropped a jump-hook for a new high lead of 19-27 for Efes. Larkin fed Pleiss for a three-point play and the big man then stuck a triple to suddenly make it 20-33, to which Anderson added another triple. Wilbekin ended the 0-9 run of Efes from downtown. Pleiss had 2 blocks and fed Rodrigue Beaubois for a triple at 23-39. Dragan Bender and Zizic scored inside for Maccabi to trim the difference to 31-44. A basket-plus-free throw combo by Micic left a 31-47 halftime score.

Wilbekin, Zizic and Dorsey all scored out of the second-half gate before Larkin and Dorsey traded triples at 40-50. Simon's 2 baskets and Chris Singleton's triple put Efes in front 40-57. Elijah Bryant scored for Maccabi but Larkin stuck a pair of triples for a new high lead of 42-63. Micic and Chris Singleton kept it going as Efes expanded the difference to 47-71 after three quarters. Efes was content to exchange baskets in the final quarter, but Larkin drilled another shot from deep, his fifth, as the score hit a new high lead of 51-77 with 6 minutes left. After Beaubois made it 58-84 with 3:30 to play the only question was by how much Efes would win, but the victory was going back to Istanbul with the visitors for sure.

Making shots and taking names

The difference in the final score could be told almost completely in the three-point scoring column. Led by Larkin, who made 5 of 9 triples, Efes as a team buried 14 of 26 with seven players taking part for an accuracy rate of 53.9%. Maccabi took almost the same amount of threes but hit just 7 of 25 with four players connecting from deep. The difference was even starker during the game's first 25 minutes, by which time Efes had hit 10 of 16 to Maccabi's 3 of 16 and the lead was already climbing beyond the hosts' reach.

Pleiss plugs in

You couldn't tell on Tuesday that Efes center Tibor Pleiss had played all of 14 minutes and scored all of 6 points in the previous four months due to injuries. In half that time during Tuesday's first two quarters, Pleiss had 8 points without a miss to go with 3 blocks, 1 rebound and 1 assist for a PIR of 13 already, reminding everyone that Efes has more weapons even than have been apparent during its current winning streak.

Milestone

Maccabi head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos was toasted before the game for what was his 200th appearance on the bench in his EuroLeague career, 121 with Olympiacos Piraeus and the last 79 with the team from Tel Aviv. His career record is now 118-82.

Standing against racism

Maccabi used its pre-game warmups and Efes its game jerseys to send an unequivocal message opposing racism ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21. "End Racism", "Unity", "Equality", and "End Discrimination" were among the messages the players wore before and during the game. All EuroLeague teams will be observing the same call to action against racism during Round 30 on Thursday and Friday.

Next Games

Efes goes right back at it later this week with a big road date with FC Bayern Munich (18-11) on Friday in Round 30. Maccabi's second scheduled game this week, a Round 30 home date with LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, has been postponed to April 4.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB20
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; VYKLICKY, ROBERT; NEDOVIC, MILAN
Attendance: 1000
By Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv17141619
Anadolu Efes Istanbul22252419
End of Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv17314766
Anadolu Efes Istanbul22477190
Maccabi Playtika 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 18:24 7 2/4 1/2     1 1 3 1 1   2   1 7
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 26:46 15 2/4 3/9 2/2   5 5 2 1 1   1 1 2 14
3 JONES, CHRIS 19:02 3 0/1 1/3         4   1     3    
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 7:43   0/1 0/2   1 2 3           2 2  
5 HUNTER, OTHELLO 18:41 4 1/4   2/2 1 2 3 1 1 1 2   2 1 6
6 COHEN, SANDY 11:42   0/1             1     1     -1
7 CASSPI, OMRI 12:54 5 2/3   1/2   2 2 1         3 2 5
11 DORSEY, TYLER 17:16 10 2/4 2/5   1 1 2 1   1     2 2 7
12 DIBARTOLOMEO, JOHN 14:49   0/3 0/1   2   2 1 1 1   1 2 1 -3
14 BLAYZER, OZ 10:00 2 1/2       1 1     1         1
17 BENDER, DRAGAN 21:24 6 2/4 0/2 2/2 1 3 4 2   1 1   1 1 8
23 ZIZIC, ANTE 21:19 14 5/9   4/4 1 5 6 1   2   2 2 2 13
Team           3   3     1         2
Totals 200:00 66 17/40 7/24 11/12 10 22 32 16 5 11 3 7 18 14 59
        42.5% 29.2% 91.7%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
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
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 29:06 15 0/1 5/9   1 3 4 3 1 2       4 20
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 21:16 6 0/2 2/4   1 2 3 2     1   2   6
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 20:33 7 1/2 1/2 2/2   6 6 1 1 1     2 1 11
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 2:30 2 1/1                 1       3
13 MUSA, DZANAN 3:28     0/1             1         -2
15 SANLI, SERTAC 16:57 8 1/3 1/1 3/6   1 1   1 1   1 3 3 3
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 15:59 4 2/5 0/1     6 6 3 1       1 1 10
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 10:12 10 3/4 1/1 1/1 1 2 3 1     3   1 1 16
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 28:44 15 4/5 2/4 1/1       4 1     1 1 4 19
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 18:17 8 1/1 2/3   1 3 4 2 1 1     2   11
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 12:51 5 2/6   1/2 2 4 6     1 1 1 1 2 6
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 20:07 10 4/4   2/2   1 1 6   2 1   1 2 17
Team                                
Totals 200:00 90 19/34 14/26 10/14 6 28 34 22 6 9 7 3 14 18 120
        55.9% 53.8% 71.4%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Tonight we tried to fight, but our fight was not enough, obviously. We knew that they have great quality and great solutions in every position with a lot of players who are in their best form now, individually but also as a team. For me, it was very important how we started the game because they open the games better than any other EuroLeague team as we saw in their last three or four games. They got a lead against us, too, and at the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter, when we missed three or four layups under the rim, that lack of effectiveness offensively in this period created an even bigger difference. At the beginning of the second half, we tried to play better on defense and play smarter on offense. I think that was one good moment we had, getting back within 10 points. But they have quality. I don't think we didn't try. I think we wanted and we couldn't tonight because we played against a very good opponent."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"Congratulations to my players for 40 minutes of excellent game discipline, excellent defense. In offense, we shared ball; we had 22 assists. This is perfect basketball. I don't know how we can play much better. I am very satisfied, of course, but nothing is finished. We will have five more games, but step by step we are working for our goal."

Players

DIBARTOLOMEO, JOHN
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Obviously it hurts. Disappointing, frustrating, not very good, to sum it up. Obviously we were very excited to play in front of our fans again. They brought so much energy, even when we didn't give them much to be excited about today. They supported us. They were with us. Obviously, this isn't the outcome any of us wanted, but we have to continue and figure out how to approve."
MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It's really fun. The three years we've played together it’s been fun. But the better you play, the more responsibility you have. You have to prove it every day, which is logical. For us, these last two months have been really successful, today also. And I think that we just have to stay humble, stay on the ground, and keep playing this way."
LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"The way that we play, we share the ball. Every single night, it's not the same guy. Sometimes it's me, sometimes Micic, Kruno, Roddy, Adrien, whoever. You know, we have a lot of weapons. And when you play like that, you play unselfish, it's very hard to defend. And then defensively, we all fight, we all know each other, we know our strengths and weaknesses, and at this point, we're just rolling."