2020-21Regular SeasonRound 31
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 85
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 65
March 25, 2021 CET: 18:30
Local time: 20:30 SINAN ERDEM SPORTS HALL.

Efes shuts down Panathinaikos to move closer to playoffs

Anadolu Efes Istanbul moved another step closer to locking up a playoff berth as it proved too strong for Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 85-65 at home on Thursday. Vasilije Micic led the way with 21 points and 7 assists as Efes improved to 20-11 in its last home game of the regular season. Bryant Dunston added 15 and Shane Larkin and Rodrigue Beaubois both chipped in 13 points for Efes, which was led by assistant coach Yakup Sekizkok in place of head coach Ergin Ataman. Efes will clinch a playoff spot if both Valencia Basket and TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz lose their games this week. Panathinaikos had already been eliminated from postseason contention and fell to 10-19. Mario Hezonja paced the Greens with 14 points with Zach Auguste and Dinos Mitoglou pitching in 10 points each.

After Mitoglou started the scoring for the visitors, Micic scored Efes’s first 6 points and the lead was 8-2. Howard Sant-Roos’s steal and basket got Panathinaikos within 12-10 before Micic completed an and-one to push his point total to 11 and a 15-10 Efes lead. Dunston came on and picked up 6 points for Efes while Eleftherios Bochoridis had 4 points at the other end. Efes was up 24-21 after 10 minutes. Larkin started the second quarter with a three-pointer and Beaubois pushed the margin to 31-23. Beaubois drained 2 triples of his own and another basket to move to 10 points and a 41-27 advantage. Ioannis Papapetrou knocked down a three-pointer to end Efes’s 10-0 run and added another triple to pull Panathinaikos within 41-33. But the score was 43-33 at the break.

Beaubois opened the second half with a three-pointer with Hezonja hitting a triple at the other end. Micic added an and-one and a layup, but Hezonja twice answered and Auguste added a block and 3 points to keep Panathinaikos close at 53-45. Dunston finished with Efes’s final 7 points in the third quarter for a 60-49 cushion after 30 minutes. Micic’s three-pointer to begin the final frame gave Efes its biggest lead of 14 points (63-49). Hezonja managed a triple at the other end, but Chris Singleton also hit from deep and Tibor Pleiss pitched in 4 points as the hosts' advantage grew to 74-55 with 4 minutes left to play. Aaron White knocked down a triple as Panathinaikos scored 6 points to pull within 74-61 with under 3 minutes to play. Larkin made sure there would be no comeback with back-to-back triples to finish off the Greens.

Efes supports UN sustainability goals

Efes started an awareness project in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme in Turkey by having its players wear specially designed jerseys in Thursday's game featuring the slogan #TakeAction and the icons of 17 goals that represent a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The special jerseys, all with the number 17, will be sold through the club's sportswear partner.

Dunston joins 2,000 point club

Bryant Dunston scored 4 points in the first quarter to join the EuroLeague's 2,000-point club. The EuroLeague’s all-time leader in blocked shots ended with 15 points to move to 2,011 total in 218 games for Olympiacos Piraeus and Efes. He is the 42nd player to collect 2,000 points in their EuroLeague career.

Telling numbers

Efes shut down the Panathinaikos offense, which was held to 47.6% shooting on two-pointers and 25.0% on three-pointers. The Efes offense was outstanding from close range, making 69.7% of its two-pointers.

Next games

Efes will head on the road for the first of three road games to close the regular season, playing at Real Madrid in Spain on Tuesday, March 30. Panathinaikos will return home and take on AX Armani Exchange Milan the same evening.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB20
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; PETEK, SASO; RADOJKOVIC, JOSIP
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul24191725
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens21121616
End of Quarter1234
Anadolu Efes Istanbul24436085
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens21334965
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 29:17 13 1/2 3/6 2/2       5 1 3   1 1 1 11
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 25:43 13 2/4 3/4     6 6 2   1 1   1 1 18
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 16:39 6   2/3     3 3   1 1     3 2 7
4 BALBAY, DOGUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SANLI, SERTAC 9:24 4 2/3 0/1   1 1 2 2 1 1     4   2
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 23:21 4 2/2 0/2     3 3 1   1     1   4
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 8:26 8 4/6     1 1 2         1 1 1 7
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 25:00 21 7/8 1/2 4/4   4 4 7 1 2   1 2 4 30
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 17:05           4 4 1   1       1 5
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 22:10 15 5/7   5/6 1 3 4 1         2 5 20
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 22:55 1 0/1 0/4 1/2 2 1 3             1 -1
Team           1 3 4               4
Totals 200:00 85 23/33 9/22 12/14 6 29 35 19 4 10 1 3 15 16 107
        69.7% 40.9% 85.7%
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
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 MACK, SHELVIN 9:23   0/1 0/1     1 1 2 1       1   1
6 PAPAGIANNIS, GEORGIOS 15:14 6 3/5 0/1   3 3 6           2 1 8
7 BOCHORIDIS, ELEFTHERIOS 21:15 7 3/6 0/2 1/2 2 1 3 4 1   1   3 2 9
8 AUGUSTE, ZACH 12:54 10 4/5   2/4 1   1   1 1 1   3 2 8
10 PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS 30:37 6 0/6 2/4     2 2 1         1 1 1
11 HEZONJA, MARIO 18:04 14 3/8 2/4 2/2   1 1 1 2 1   1 1 4 12
12 DIPLAROS, NIKOS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 KASELAKIS, LEONIDAS 4:12     0/1                       -1
30 WHITE, AARON 18:48 3 0/3 1/2   2   2 2 1         2 6
44 MITOGLOU, KONSTANTINOS 23:16 10 4/4 0/2 2/2 2 3 5     2     1 3 13
50 BENTIL, BEN 15:40 2 1/2       2 2 1     1   2   3
74 SANT-ROOS, HOWARD 30:37 7 2/2 1/7   2 3 5 7 1 3     2   9
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 65 20/42 6/24 7/10 12 18 30 18 7 7 3 1 16 15 71
        47.6% 25% 70%
Head coach: KATTASH, ODED

Head Coaches

KATTASH, ODED
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

"To beat a team like Efes, especially here, we need to play almost a complete game - offensively and defensively. We were struggling offensively most of the game. We had some minutes defensively, but we didn’t start the game aggressive enough. We didn’t use our fouls as we wanted at the beginning of the game. And then we started chasing. That’s never easy when you play against quality like Efes has. We can learn a lot of things from this game. But we have to give credit to Efes. They have a lot of quality, especially with their guards. For some minutes when we were able to execute our game plan, we were really able to slow them down, to force them to play some possession game. That was our goal. But we have to be more consistent about that. And offensively, it wasn’t our best day today.”

SEKIZKOK, YAKUP

Assistant coach Anadolu Efes Istanbul

"The game started as we had expected. We believed that Panathinaikos was going to use a switching defense against us. And we prepared our offense with some small modifications. Especially at the beginning of the game, we executed very well. We had a 10-point lead at the half. Still, we could not manage to bring the game tempo to our level. We pushed hard. We wanted to increase it: not only on offense but also with pressure on defense. But we were too tired from last week. We didn’t have enough time to rest. Hopefully, after this game we will start practicing with our usual routine and be ready for next week’s double round. But Panathinaikos is a really good team. They have great talents, big size and shooters. It’s not easy to prepare your defense against them. They have strengths at every position. But I think we did a good job. We didn’t allow players coming from the bench to score and that helped us finish the game at 20 points [difference]."

Players

MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It was not easy because we had pressure before the game that we had to win it. Today we showed something that is very important for us: defense. I think we had a problem with defense against Bayern in the second half - not with offense. Besides that, we had a very good game. We had contributions from every player, which is very important. Everybody who stepped on the court got involved in the game."
DUNSTON, BRYANT
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We knew that they were going to switch a lot. Last game we attacked a lot on the outside. This game we had some opportunities to go inside. My job is to be as aggressive as I can when I get the ball. I took advantage of that."
AUGUSTE, ZACH
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens
"Efes played amazing on offense. But we also have to work on defense and play better in the paint. We had our ups and downs during the season, but that is no excuse. We want to improve through the EuroLeague and win both trophies in Greece."