2019-20Regular SeasonRound 7
Olympiacos Piraeus 67
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 86
November 07, 2019 CET: 20:00
Local time: 21:00 PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP STADIUM

Micic, Larkin lead Efes to victory in Piraeus

Anadolu Efes Istanbul blasted past Olympiacos Piraeus with a resounding 67-86 victory at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Thursday evening. The result boosted Efes's record to 5-2 and bumped the Reds down to 2-5. The opening stages were evenly contested but Efes surged ahead in the second quarter and never looked back, establishing a double-digit advantage that was only briefly threatened early in the final quarter. The visiting team’s star guards shined once again, with Vasilije Micic registering 27 points while Shane Larkin added 24. Micic made 5 of 6 three-point attempts and Larkin converted 7 of his 8 field goal attempts. Rodrigue Beaubois added 10 points, while Bryant Dunston was dominant inside with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Nikola Milutinov recorded a double-double for Olympiacos with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Brandon Paul led the scoring for the home team with 15 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting and Georgios Printezis added 14 points in defeat.

A pair of Milutinov dunks and a triple from Paul gave Olympiacos an early lead, but consecutive three-pointers from Micic gave Efes its first lead, 9-10. A deep strike and a hook shot from Printezis got the host back ahead and Augustine Rubit and Will Cherry netted from close range before Taylor Rochestie converted a four-point play on the buzzer to make it 24-21 after 10 minutes. A classy drive and layup from Larkin opened the second-quarter scoring and a trio of baskets from Dunston highlighted runs of 1-8 and 0-7 to send Efes ahead 28-36. The red-hot Micic kept the visiting team on track and Larkin scored two layups for a 33-42 lead. Micic’s triple and a tough layup from James Anderson were followed by a driving score from Micic, making it 35-53 at halftime. Antonios Koniaris from long-range and Printezis with a three-point play gave Olympiacos hope at the start of the second half. Kevin Punter’s fastbreak score completed an 8-1 run, but Micic and Larkin responded to protect Efes’s advantage. Paul twice scored from deep, including an improbable buzzer-beater, to make it 58-67 at the end of the third. Paul struck another three-pointer early in the fourth, but Micic restored Efes’s double-digit lead from long range and then nailed a dagger from deep for a 63-76 lead midway through the quarter. Larkin added another three-pointer and a fastbreak layup to keep the visitors safe and Efes cruised the rest of the way.

Micic back in the groove

After going 0-of-6 from three-point range in a total of 6 points in last week’s loss at Panathinaikos, Vasilije Micic rediscovered his mojo. The dynamic guard scored 10 points in the first quarter alone and stayed red-hot to advance to 19 points by halftime. He couldn’t maintain that pace, but ended with a career-high 27 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting.

Record-breaking second quarter sparks Efes

The key to the victory was a record-breaking second quarter. Olympiacos was leading by 3 points after 10 minutes but then Efes became unstoppable with Micic, Shane Larkin and Bryant Dunston all on fire as the visiting team enjoyed an 11-32 edge in the period – the biggest-ever second-quarter margin suffered by Olympiacos at home.

Turnovers haunt Olympiacos

The biggest problem for the home team, especially in the first half, was carelessness with the ball. Olympiacos committed 11 turnovers before halftime to give Efes plenty of extra possessions. The home team improved in that respect to finish with 16 turnovers, but the damage was done.

Dunston makes rebounding milestone

Veteran big man Dunston reached a personal milestone in this victory, with his haul of 8 rebounds taking him beyond a career tally of 1,000. Dunston – who started his EuroLeague career with Olympiacos in 2013 – now has 1,004 rebounds, 15th on the all-time list.

Next round

Efes returns home in Round 8 to welcome Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday, while Olympiacos stays in Piraeus for a home meeting with Zalgiris Kaunas on Friday.

Vasilije Micic - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB19
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: HIERREZUELO, DANIEL; PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; UDYANSKYY, EDUARD
Attendance: 5657
By Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus2411239
Anadolu Efes Istanbul21321419
End of Quarter1234
Olympiacos Piraeus24355867
Anadolu Efes Istanbul21536786
Olympiacos Piraeus
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 PUNTER, KEVIN 18:47 8 2/4 1/6 1/1   2 2 1 1 1     2 1 3
1 ROCHESTIE, TAYLOR 5:52 4 0/1 1/1 1/1   1 1 1   2       1 4
3 PAUL, BRANDON 33:23 15 0/1 4/8 3/3   4 4 2 1 2     1 2 16
6 KONIARIS, ANTONIOS 19:17 5 1/5 1/3   1 1 2 4   2     3 1 1
7 SPANOULIS, VASSILIS 22:15 4 0/1 0/4 4/5   2 2 1   3   1   2 -1
10 CHERRY, WILL 16:48 2 1/2 0/1         1 1 1   1 1   -1
11 MILUTINOV, NIKOLA 31:06 10 5/5     5 8 13 1 1 5 1   2 3 22
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 3:59     0/1               1   2   -2
15 PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS 30:09 14 5/8 1/4 1/1 2 1 3 2 1       3 3 14
19 KUZMINSKAS, MINDAUGAS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 10:13 2 1/2           1         2    
33 REED, WILLIE 8:11 3 1/3   1/3 2   2             2 3
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 67 16/32 8/28 11/14 12 20 32 14 5 17 2 2 16 15 61
        50% 28.6% 78.6%
Head coach: KEMZURA, KESTUTIS
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 30:15 24 4/5 3/3 7/9   6 6 3   4     1 6 31
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 26:48 10 3/4 1/4 1/2   2 2 2 2 1   1 1 2 10
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 28:50 7 0/2 2/3 1/2   2 2 2 2       4 2 7
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 0:21                              
8 GECIM, TOLGA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SANLI, SERTAC DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 11:03   0/1             2         1 2
22 MICIC, VASILIJE 34:43 27 6/9 5/6   1 1 2 5 2 3     3 1 27
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 8:12 3 1/1 0/1 1/1   1 1             1 4
25 PETERS, ALEC 11:10 3 0/1 1/2     2 2     1     3 1  
42 DUNSTON, BRYANT 28:57 10 5/7   0/1 2 6 8 1 2 2 2   3 2 17
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 19:41 2 1/3 0/3     3 3 1       1      
Team           2 1 3     1         2
Totals 200:00 86 20/33 12/22 10/15 5 24 29 14 10 12 2 2 15 16 100
        60.6% 54.5% 66.7%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

KEMZURA, KESTUTIS
Olympiacos Piraeus
"Congratulations to Efes. They played good basketball and didn’t let us move the ball freely. They didn’t let us play as we planned. But the main thing was the second quarter. We had 11 turnovers in the first half and we didn’t fight enough, use our fouls enough, move our feet and do what we said we had to do before the game. The positive thing is that in the second half we came to fight and we came back to 6 points. They have Micic and Larkin, two-way players who scored and created most of the points. We didn’t find a way to stop them and the only positive thing is that we won two quarters, but that’s not enough to beat Efes. Our new players need time, but it’s not about who plays, but how we play. It’s frustrating for all of us, but we have to keep our heads up and today we saw some toughness and fight. Those good minutes have to go up and the dead minutes have to shrink. Our goal is to make the playoffs."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul

"Except for the first quarter, we made a great game, especially after our bench players came onto the court. We controlled the game and it was a great night for us. The reality of the EuroLeague is that it’s not easy to have 100% focus in every game and last night I did not like my team’s mentality, but tonight it was perfect. The team played the championship game last season and the target is to reach that level again. It's not easy because there are many strong teams, but we will try. It’s important to think game by game. Tonight we were perfect, but we will play 27 more games. We’ve only had half of the first half of the season, but at the moment Barcelona, Milan and Maccabi are the best teams other than us."

"We played a perfect game, especially on defense. We played very good pick-and-roll defense against Spanoulis and inside we played very well, especially with Dunston and Singleton. On offense tonight the guards played a perfect game. Larkin, Micic and Beaubois shared the ball well and found the good shot rotations. It was a good game. Olympiacos will get rhythm, but tonight they didn’t play well and it was a normal score."

Players

LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We had to play better defensively. Early on we let them get a couple of easy scores under the basket, so we had to lock in defensively. Our offense would always be there. I think we brought a lot of the same pieces back from last season, we have all the talent to make it back as far as we did then and win that final game. That’s what we’re all focused on. We’ve got to go game-to-game, but our main goal is to win the EuroLeague and I think we’ve got a good chance of doing that."
MICIC, VASILIJE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"We needed this victory because we had a bad performance last week against Panathinaikos, which is unusual for us, but expected because it’s not easy to play at the same rhythm in the EuroLeague. Today I’m very happy because we had a lot of good performances, but we have to forget it and think about the next game. There are a lot of games ahead."