2020-21Regular SeasonRound 32
March 30, 2021 CET: 19:00
Local time: 19:00 WIZINK CENTER

Efes blows past Real and into playoffs

Anadolu Efes Istanbul clinched a place in the EuroLeague Playoffs behind a huge second half to run past Real Madrid 83-108 on Tuesday night in the Spanish capital. Efes improved its record to 21-11 and remained in third place in the standings, inching closer to securing a home-court advantage, while Real dropped to 18-14 on the season. The hosts led 42-41 at halftime, but Efes needed just a quarter and a half to score 56 points and open a 25-point lead midway through the fourth quarter en route to a resounding victory. Sertac Sanli finished as Efes's top scorer with 17 points in 18 minutes. Shane Larkin scored all of his 16 points in the final 11 minutes of the game and Krunoslav Simon scored 13 of his 15 points in the first quarter. Vasilije Micic finished with 13 points and 6 assists, Rodrigue Beaubois had 12 points, Chris Singleton 11 and Bryant Dunston 10. Trey Thompkins scored 19 for Real. Rudy Fernandez scored 13 in 16 minutes, while Usman Garuba had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Carlos Alocen had 11 and Walter Tavares finished with 10 points in a losing effort.

Simon opened the game on fire, first feeding Sanli inside and then taking over the scoring. Simon had 3 triples and a driving layup, scoring 11 quick points and opening an 11-18 lead midway through the quarter. However, Real settled in defensively with Jeffrey Taylor entering the game, while Alocen had a tough runner before Garuba knocked down a triple. The hosts did not allow a single basket in the last 3:30 of the quarter, while Tavares and Alocen knocked down jumpers to tie it at 20-20 after 10 minutes. The teams started slow on offense in the first 3 minutes of the second quarter before starting to trade blows. Thompkins and Nicola Laprovitola hit from downtown to put Real up 27-24, before Adrien Moerman and Alberto Abalde traded triples. Another three from Thompkins made it 35-31, but Beaubois answered with a corner three before Micic took it to the rim to restore an Efes advantage, 35-36. After Tavares and Tibor Pleiss exchanged close-range baskets, Fernandez and Sanli traded threes in the final minute of the half to make it 42-41 at halftime.

Singleton opened the third quarter with a three-pointer, and after a close-range basket from Tavares, Efes went on a run. Micic, Singleton and Sanli each had a basket-plus-foul that put Efes in front 46-53, while forcing Tavares to the bench with 3 personal fouls. Alocen had a floater and Thompkins knocked down a baseline jumper, but Micic and Simon got to the free-throw line and Sanli knocked down a triple to build a 50-64 cushion midway through the third. Thompkins hit a three-pointer for the hosts before Garuba fought for a layup and Alocen drove the length of the floor. Garuba's triple cut it to 62-67 as Efes was held without a basket for the final 5 minutes of the quarter, but Larkin used technical fouls by Fernandez and Real head coach Pablo Laso to make 6 of 6 from the foul line in the final 11 seconds of the quarter and make it 64-76 going into the fourth. A Larkin triple in the opening minute of the final quarter pushed the lead to 66-81. Fernandez answered with a triple, but Larkin scored more points and Dunston had a fastbreak dunk to take the advantage to 69-89. Larkin and Fernandez traded triples, before a corner three from James Anderson established a 25-point advantage, 72-97. The margin reached 27 points as Efes closed out the game.

Key run

Efes made an 8-23 run in the opening 6 minutes of the third quarter, which included consecutive three-point plays from Vasilije Micic, Chris Singleton and Sertac Sanli. Micic and Sanli combined for 18 points during the run that created a 50-64 lead with 3:58 to go in the third quarter.

The most points allowed ever

Efes hit 14 three-pointers on 26 attempts in the game, including 8 of its final 10 attempts, in shooting 7-for-9 in the second half. It helped Efes score 67 second-half points, which is the most points Real has allowed in a single half of a EuroLeague game this century.

Not in 16 years

Efes came just 2 points shy of matching a club single-game scoring record in this game, but these 108 points are the most Efes has scored in a game since scoring 110 against Olympiacos Piraeus in December 2004.

Tavares out

In addition to picking up his third personal foul just 2 minutes into the third quarter, Real center Walter Tavares also suffered what appeared to be a hip injury and limped off the floor early in the third quarter and never went back into the game.

Shaking things up

Vasilije Micic, who came into the game having started 28 of 30 games, came off the bench in this game while Shane Larkin, got his 12th start of the season in Madrid.

Next up

Efes will be in action already on Thursday when it visits another playoff contender TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, while Real will host Olympiacos Piraeus on Friday.

Krunoslav Simon - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB20
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; HORDOV, TOMISLAV ; TRAWICKI, TOMASZ
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Real Madrid20222219
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20213532
End of Quarter1234
Real Madrid20426483
Anadolu Efes Istanbul204176108
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 CAUSEUR, FABIEN 4:37   0/1       1 1 1   1   1 1   -2
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 15:58 13 1/1 3/7 2/2   2 2 1         3 2 11
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 15:03 3 0/3 1/2         2 2     1   1 3
7 TYUS, ALEX 5:43           1 1     1     1   -1
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 12:15 5 0/1 1/1 2/2       4 1 3     3 2 5
12 ALOCEN, CARLOS 20:36 11 5/7   1/2       3   1     4 2 8
14 DECK, GABRIEL 26:34 4 2/2 0/1     4 4 3   2     1 2 9
16 GARUBA, USMAN 27:01 12 3/3 2/3 0/2 3 3 6 4 2 2 3   4 2 20
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 11:05 4 1/2 0/3 2/2 1   1     2   1   2  
22 TAVARES, WALTER 16:30 10 5/9     2 2 4 1     1   3 1 10
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 27:48 19 4/5 3/6 2/2   3 3 1 1       2 2 20
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 16:50 2 0/1 0/2 2/4 2 1 3           2 2  
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 83 21/35 10/25 11/16 9 19 28 20 6 12 4 3 24 18 86
        60% 40% 68.8%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO
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 29:14 16 1/1 2/5 8/8 1   1 5   2     1 2 18
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 22:52 12 2/5 1/3 5/6       2 1 2 1   4 4 8
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 29:34 11 2/4 2/3 1/1 2 4 6   1       3 2 14
4 BALBAY, DOGUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SANLI, SERTAC 18:06 17 4/5 2/3 3/5 2 2 4     1 1 1 1 3 18
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 7:20 3   1/2     1 1               3
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 3:43 2 1/1 0/1         1         1   1
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 27:14 13 3/8 0/2 7/7 1 2 3 6   2   3 2 9 17
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 18:57 9   3/4     5 5 2   1     2   12
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 18:11 10 5/6   0/2 1 1 2 1     1   3 2 10
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 24:49 15 2/4 3/3 2/2   2 2 5 2 1     1 1 21
Team           2 4 6               6
Totals 200:00 108 20/34 14/26 26/31 9 21 30 22 4 9 3 4 18 23 128
        58.8% 53.8% 83.9%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul

"We didn't play well in the first half, but we were only down by just 1 point. In the second half, we started with our regular five and started to play team basketball. We moved the ball really well, we shared the ball with Micic and Beaubois, and then Larkin got involved in the game and started to score. We opened the court with his shots. Chris Singleton and Bryant Dunston played very good defense and everyone played excellent. It is not easy to win this kind of a game here. It is an excellent win for us. It is important to play good basketball and tonight in the second half, we once again played excellent basketball."

"Of course, I am sorry about disqualification for Pablo [Laso], but he gave us an advantage because we shot 5 free throws at the end of the third quarter, and then we did not lose control of the game in the fourth quarter."

MATEO, CHUS

Assistant coach Real Madrid

"It was an important game for us. We did not start as well as we wanted. We got back into the game, we reacted well and led the game all the way to the break. The things did not happen the way we wanted in the third quarter. Also, maybe an injury to Tavares had an important influence that the team got in trouble. We got to congratulate Efes, which is playing quite well, but we have a challenge ahead and we want to qualify for the playoffs."

Players

ALOCEN, CARLOS
Real Madrid
"We’re hurting. Above all, we paid a high price for the end of the third quarter and the fourth quarter. Other than that we played well, but we are hurting. On Friday we have another final, there’s no time to think that we just lost by 25. It’s a very, very important game and we will have to come out hungry. We know all the offensive weapons that Efes has, but if they score 21 points in 5 minutes, we are doing something wrong. We have two more games in the EuroLeague, hopefully more, and now we have to focus totally on Olympiacos. We are Real Madrid, we can still make the playoffs and I believe we will."
SIMON, KRUNOSLAV
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We played great in the second half, we scored 67 points, that's a lot. We showed our team play and it is a very important win for us. We are now in the playoffs and now we need to fight to reach one of the top four positions. We will try to win the next two games and see in which place we will finish. The most important is we are now in the playoffs, but now, let's fight for something more."
LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"This is a very difficult league, there is a lot of talented teams, but as you can see over the last few years, if we score and we get into our pace and our tempo, we are a very tough team to beat. In the second half, we really got to what we wanted to do and it's another good win."