2020-21PlayoffsGame 4
Real Madrid 82
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 76
April 29, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 WIZINK CENTER

Real's déjà vu rally evens series with Efes!

Real Madrid rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit for the second time in two days to edge Anadolu Efes Istanbul 82-76 and force a deciding Game 5 in their best-of-five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs series. Efes led by 16 points in the second quarter and 59-72 early in the fourth, but the visitors did not score another field goal in the final 7:20 of the game while Sergio Llull and Usman Garuba fueled a huge run for Real to come back and pull out another improbable victory. Garuba posted career highs of 24 points, 12 rebounds and 30 PIR to lead Real, while Jaycee Carroll netted 20 points on 4-for-7 three-point shooting. Rodrigue Beaubois scored 19 of his 23 points in the first half for Efes, while Shane Larkin had 22 points and 8 assists in the losing effort.

Real stormed out of the gate behind Carrol's 8 points in the opening 83 seconds of the game, including a corner triple. Real's 1-2-2 matchup zone forced 6 turnovers on Efes, while a triple and a dunk by Garuba extended the lead before another three-pointer from Carroll made it 17-0 after less than 5 minutes. Efes needed 5 minutes and 44 seconds to open its tally with Krunoslav Simon's triple, but that got the visitors uncorked. Simon followed with a runner before back-to-back threes from Larkin and Beaubois capped an 0-11 run. Trey Thompkins helped the hosts hold 19-13 after 10 minutes, but Efes needed just over a minute in the second quarter to take the lead, 19-21, behind back-to-back threes from Larkin and Beaubois. Rudy Fernandez hit a pair of three-pointers for Real, but Beaubois and Chris Singleton had one each for the visitors to spark another 0-11 Efes run and open a 27-37 lead. Llull and Larkin traded floaters before Beaubois hit his fifth downtown dagger in as many attempts. The first triple from Vasilije Micic opened 31-47 Efes advantage before a three-pointer from Carlos Alocen cut Madrid's deficit to 36-47 at halftime.

Garuba and Bryant Dunston traded baskets early in the third quarter before Carroll nailed a pair of triples, turning one into a four-point play. Two more close-range baskets from Garuba narrowed the gap to 51-55. Still, Efes answered with 9 consecutive points behind the play of Larkin and Singleton. Micic capped that run with a three-pointer at 51-64. Three-pointers from Abalde and Thompkins got Real within 57-66 after 30 minutes, but Larkin had a three-point play and a three-pointer to restore 59-72 margin early in the final quarter. Real was not going away, however. Carroll and Garuba fueled a 6-0 run before Llull took it to the rim and Garuba had 2 more baskets, including a fastbreak dunk. A three from Abalde put Real up 74-73 with 1:49 to go. The hosts' defense did not allow another field goal, while Llull, Fernandez and Garuba went perfect 8 of 8 from the free throw line the rest of the way to secure a victory.

Déjà vu

After Real finished Game 3 with a 19-2 run, the team delivered another identical spurt in Game 4, using a 19-2 run to turn a 59-72 deficit into a 78-74 lead.

Teenager stars

In absence of Walter Tavares, 19-year old Usman Garuba got another opportunity to carry a heavy load, and he delivered. He played 33:26 minutes and starred with 24 points, making 7 of 11 two-pointers and 1 of 4 triples, and pulled down 12 rebounds for a team-high PIR of 30.

Big swings

Real led 17-0 in the first quarter, but Efes rallied then pulled away to a 31-47 lead for a swing of 33 points in just over 13 minutes of play. However, Real had a final say, turning a 59-72 deficit into a six-point win in the final 7 minutes of the game.

Cross-game run

Real Madrid scored the final 16 points of Game 3 then opened this game with a 17-0 run. Real did not allow a single point in the final 4:34 of Game 3 nor in the first 5 minutes and 44 seconds of Game 4.

Beaubois enters history books

Rodrigue Beaubois was 5-for-5 from long range at halftime, which tied a playoffs record set by Vassilis Spanoulis for three-pointers made in a first half. Spanoulis hit all 5 of his three-point attempts in Game 2 home loss against Efes in 2016.

What's next

Two teams are set to play in a deciding Game 5 that Efes will host on Tuesday, May 4. The winner of that game will face CSKA Moscow in the semifinals at the Final Four in Cologne, Germany.

Usman Garuba - Real Madrid - EB20
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RADOVIC, SRETEN; LATISEVS, OLEGS; NEDOVIC, MILAN
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Real Madrid19172125
Anadolu Efes Istanbul13341910
End of Quarter1234
Real Madrid19365782
Anadolu Efes Istanbul13476676
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 4:03                   2     1   -3
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 22:10 8   2/6 2/2   1 1 1 2 2     3 3 6
6 ABALDE, ALBERTO 24:14 7 0/1 2/2 1/2 1 4 5 6 3 2     3 2 16
7 TYUS, ALEX 26:24 7 3/8   1/2 5 1 6   1     3 2 1 4
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 4:32               3         1   2
9 REYES, FELIPE 1:40                   1     2   -3
12 ALOCEN, CARLOS 16:50 3   1/1     1 1 6 1 2     3   6
16 GARUBA, USMAN 33:26 24 7/11 1/4 7/8 2 10 12 1 1 3 1   3 5 30
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 28:42 20 2/4 4/7 4/4 1   1     1     2 4 17
23 LLULL, SERGIO 23:12 8 2/6 0/5 4/4   1 1 8   1     3 2 6
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 10:04 5 1/1 1/1     1 1     1     2   3
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 4:43   0/1               1     1   -3
Team           2 3 5     2         3
Totals 200:00 82 15/32 11/26 19/22 11 22 33 25 8 18 1 3 26 17 84
        46.9% 42.3% 86.4%
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 34:56 22 4/5 3/8 5/5   2 2 8 1 3     2 9 31
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 30:54 23 2/5 5/8 4/5   2 2 3 2 1     3 2 21
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 30:33 5 1/2 1/1   1 5 6 1     1   1 3 14
4 BALBAY, DOGUS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SANLI, SERTAC 4:12                   1     1   -2
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 11:01   0/1 0/1           1 2     1   -4
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 20:31 9 1/2 2/5 1/2   1 1 1   6     3 3  
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 14:01 3 0/1   3/4   2 2 2         1 2 6
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 34:10 8 2/5   4/6 2 4 6 1 4   2 1 3 3 15
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 19:42 6 1/2 1/3 1/2   1 1 1 1 2     2 3 4
Team             3 3               3
Totals 200:00 76 11/23 12/26 18/24 3 20 23 17 9 15 3 1 17 25 88
        47.8% 46.2% 75%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"We are believing. We stay focused. We keep working, keep working, and we never give up. I am very proud of my players because they showed it. You can win, you can lose, but this is basketball. This is a fun game to watch, but you’ve got to keep believing. We fight until the end, and finally we got this victory and are going back to Istanbul. That is what we wanted at the beginning of this series, to be able to compete, be ready for every game. Right now, we still think it is very difficult to beat this team, that we’ve got to the fifth game, in Istanbul, but we would have signed this at the beginning of the week. I always have very good words about my players. Because I see them every day, I see how they work and I see how they keep believing. We have our good days, our bad days, but they keep fighting. And this is something that I am very proud of. It has been a difficult year, but we are here, we are still alive. We keep on fighting. It's inside of us. So, that's what we are going to do. Now, enjoy this victory, rest tomorrow, be ready for [our Spanish League] game on the weekend, and go to Istanbul trying to get a Final Four spot, knowing how difficult it is going to be against a great team.”
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
“Both teams put great hustle on the court. It was a strange game, we started down 0-17 the first five or six minutes. Then, we changed the game, and until the last 5 minutes we controlled the game. But tonight, except four of five players, we did not find a sixth or seventh player to find a contribution. The players who put great effort to change the first part of the game, they got tired and we missed the last five minutes. Again, it was similar to the first game here. Real did not give up. It is 2-2. It is a strong series, a tough series, and now we play the final of this series in Istanbul.”

Players

GARUBA, USMAN
Real Madrid
"I always trust in my team and my teammates, and I am very happy. We have a lot of experienced players, so we listen to them. And we won."
CARROLL, JAYCEE
Real Madrid

"We knew it was a final that we had to fight to win. If we lost, we were going home, so everyone who went on the court was very focused on the game. On defense, we were tougher, and on offense, we were more aggressive, and believing until the end."

“Going back to Istanbul is going to be tough. We got a little life from these two games; we started to play a little better with little more confidence. It's going to be difficult. They are a great team. We have seen that all season long. We’ve got to go in and be prepared for a battle.”