2019-20Regular SeasonRound 3
Valencia Basket 78
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 83
October 18, 2019 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 LA FONTETA

Efes gets the job done in Valencia

Anadolu Efes Istanbul used a big third quarter to down winless Valencia Basket 78-83 on the road on Friday. It was the second consecutive win for Efes, which improved to 2-1 on the season, while Valencia is now the only Turkish Airlines EuroLeague team yet to register a victory, dropping to 0-2. Efes trailed by 7 points at halftime, but followed Vasilije Micic's lead to score 30 points in the third quarter, when the team made 10 of 10 two-point shots, before Krunoslav Simon sealed the game in the fourth. Simon scored 19 points to lead all scorers, while Micic had 15 and 12 assists. Alec Peters collected 15 points and 7 rebounds, Shane Larkin netted 13 while Bryant Dunston had 10 points and 7 rebounds. For Valencia, Bojan Dubljevic matched his EuroLeague career best with 22 points, and also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Sam Van Rossom scored 14, while Brock Motum added 11 points in a losing effort against his former team.

The pace was very fast in the first quarter, with Van Rossom and Fernando San Emeterio taking it to the rim for Valencia. Peters had 6 early points for Efes and Simon strung together 6 more to give the visitors a 14-16 lead. However, back-to-back-to-back triples from Van Rossom, Alberto Abalde and Dubljevic put Valencia back in front and the hosts held a 27-23 lead after 10 minutes. A three-pointer from Quino Colom and a dunk from Louis Labeyrie extended that difference to 34-27 early in the second quarter. The scoring slowed down until Simon and Rodrigue Beaubois hit from long range for the visitors, but Dubljevic scored 5 points, including a three-point play, and Colom had a shot-clock beating triple as Valencia took a 46-39 advantage into halftime. Efes came out firing from the locker rooms, with Micic sinking a triple. He then took the offense into his own hands, setting up Larkin, Dunston and Peters before scoring on a fastbreak to put Efes in front 53-54 midway through the third. A floater from Simon and a pair of layups from Dunston, all assisted by Micic, sparked another Efes run capped by a corner triple from Beaubois to make it 63-69 after 30 minutes. In the fourth quarter, Dubljevic scored inside, but that was a lone basket for either team over almost 5 minutes. Simon ended Efes' drought then added a floater that sent Efes up 67-74 with 3:40 to go. His crafty reverse layup to make it 69-77 with 1:33 remaining let the visitors close out the game.

Micic's third-quarter show

Efes won the third quarter 30-17. During those 10 minutes, Efes went a perfect 10-for-10 on two-pointers and dished 11 assists total. Vasilije Micic owned those 10 minutes, scoring 9 points and dished 7 assists. He either scored or assisted on 23 of his team's first 27 points after halftime.

Starter's world

The Efes starters dominated this game, accounting for 68 points on the night. Four Efes starters – Micic, Alec Peters, Bryant Dunston and Krunoslav Simon – each played at least 29 minutes, with Dunston logging 35:22. Valencia's starters more than doubled up its bench scoring, with 53 of their team's 78 points.

Stunning stat

Efes had 20 assists in this game, with 9 coming in the first half, then 11 in the third quarter, but none in the fourth. Valencia finished with 23 assists.

First road win

This was seventh time these two teams faced each other in the EuroLeague, and the first time a road team picked up a victory.

Next up

Next week in Round 4 on Thursday, Efes faces Real Madrid (2-1) while Valencia travels to face Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv (1-2).

Alec Peters - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB19
Friday, October 18, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; PANTHER, ANNE; ROSSI, MICHELE
Attendance: 7205
By Quarter1234
Valencia Basket27191715
Anadolu Efes Istanbul23163014
End of Quarter1234
Valencia Basket27466378
Anadolu Efes Istanbul23396983
Valencia Basket
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 COLOM, QUINO 15:51 6 0/1 2/7     1 1 3       1   3 6
2 MARINKOVIC, VANJA 16:45 2 1/3 0/1         2 2 1   1 2 2 1
3 LOYD, JORDAN 15:40 2 1/1 0/3     1 1   2 1     3 1 -1
5 NDOUR, MAURICE 14:15 6 2/3   2/2 1   1           3   3
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 22:23 7 2/4 1/3   2 4 6 3 3 1     2 1 13
7 LABEYRIE, LOUIS 15:58 4 2/3     2 2 4     2   1     4
9 VAN ROSSOM, SAM 24:09 14 4/5 2/4     5 5 5   4     4 1 14
10 TOBEY, MIKE 0:22                              
12 MOTUM, BROCK 17:49 11 4/6 1/2     1 1 2       1 1   9
14 DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN 31:36 22 9/11 1/5 1/1 3 4 7 4   3     1 4 27
19 SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO 13:05 4 2/5     1   1 2   1     1 1 3
42 DOORNEKAMP, AARON 12:07   0/1 0/2   2 2 4 2         3 1 1
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 78 27/43 7/27 3/3 13 21 34 23 7 14 0 4 20 14 82
        62.8% 25.9% 100%
Head coach: PONSARNAU, JAUME
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 28:08 13 4/5 1/3 2/2       1 4 2     2 2 13
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 19:40 9   3/7     1 1     2     2   2
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 10:44   0/3 0/2               1       -4
3 SAYBIR, YIGITCAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 1:54               1         1    
15 SANLI, SERTAC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 3:33 2 1/2     1 1 2               3
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 29:02 15 4/6 1/6 4/4   4 4 12 2 4     1 5 26
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 7:11   0/1 0/1   1 1 2             1 1
25 PETERS, ALEC 30:21 15 6/6 0/3 3/3 2 5 7 2 1 1 1   2 5 25
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 35:22 10 4/4   2/4 1 6 7 2 2   2   3 3 21
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 34:05 19 7/8 1/5 2/2 3 2 5 2 1       3 4 23
Team             2 2     1         1
Totals 200:00 83 26/35 6/27 13/15 8 22 30 20 10 10 4 0 14 20 111
        74.3% 22.2% 86.7%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

PONSARNAU, JAUME
Valencia Basket
"We started with a lot of intensity and a lot of desire to run. We found a way to play and get buckets in the first half, but the third quarter was very bad. We have not been able to manage the way we have gone out of the locker room, and they played very comfortably. They found the corners and we did not find ourselves in the game. This is what happens when you play very good teams, as Efes is. When you make a little bit of a mistake, they use it to kill you. I am satisfied with the effort that we made, but obviously not with the lack of concentration that we had during the game."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We had a good reaction in the second half. We started to play more aggressive, especially on defense, and we started to trap their pick-and-roll, and close the inside. And we did not give them easy layups on those situations, and an easy way to attack on the pick-and-roll. On offense, we moved the ball well, Dunston made a full roll, we rotated the ball. We played with two guards, Shane and Micic, and we played our regular transition offense. It is a good win for us, because it is not easy to win here. Great atmosphere, and they play a very aggressive game. Congratulations to them. It is a very important road win for us. We are the same team, but Moerman is very important for our team and we will miss him five or six more weeks. But tonight, Larkin, Beaubois and Simon – who were injured and did not play in the first game – they played tonight and we started playing closer to our regular basketball. We started the season without two or three injured players, and we did not play our basketball. Tonight, it was our basketball."

Players

MARINKOVIC, VANJA
Valencia Basket
"It is a tough loss, our third in a row in the EuroLeague. We had a really good first half, and five minutes in the second half was enough for Efes to turn the game in their favor. We were fighting the whole game. However, this is a step forward for us and things are going in a good way."
PETERS, ALEC
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We held them to 17 points in the third quarter; that was an emphasis at halftime. They scored way too many points in the first half. We knew we had to get a good start in the third quarter. We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket on any given night. We had some high-scoring games so far, and the hope is that we keep playing well, everyone keeps staying in the rhythm and then any different guy on each night can step up and do well."
MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We came back in the second half with the attitude to win the game, and for us that was the most important to get a victory here. We are a very talented team offensive team, and that is our capacity during the whole year. But what we showed today in the second half was defense, and we have to keep doing that."