2019-20Regular SeasonRound 21
Real Madrid 75
Anadolu Efes Istanbul 80
January 24, 2020 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 WIZINK CENTER

Larkin leads Efes to road win in Madrid

Anadolu Efes Istanbul sent a message that echoed all around the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by edging Real Madrid 75-80 in the Spanish capital on Friday. Efes improved to 18-3 and is now three wins ahead of Real, CSKA Moscow and FC Barcelona, who are tied for second on 15-6. Shane Larkin paced the winners with 32 points and Tibor Pleiss added 13. Trey Thompkins led Real with 15 points, Sergio Llull added 13 and Facundo Campazzo had 10 for the hosts. Campazzo and Walter Tavares stepped up early but Larkin and Pleiss soon rescued Efes and Chris Singleton struck from downtown to tie the game, 20-20, after 10 minutes. Jordan Mickey and Llull allowed Real to stay ahead for the best part of the second quarter but Krunoslav Simon and an unstoppable Larkin put Efes ahead, 40-43, at halftime. Larkin kept dominating after the break but Thompkins and Llull kept Real within 55-59 after 30 minutes. Real managed to get within 72-73 on a three-pointer by Campazzo but Pleiss answered from downtown and Larkin scored twice around the basket to seal Efes's win.

Campazzo found Gabriel Deck for a three-pointer, adding 4 quick points to give Real a 7-2 lead. Larkin buried a long three-pointer but Tavares and Jaycee Carroll combined for all points in a 7-0 run that boosted the hosts' lead to 14-5. Larkin kept pacing Efes, sparking a 0-7 run that Dogus Balbay capped with a corner triple to make Real stop the game at 14-12. Thompkins followed a jumper with a layup but Pleiss matched that with a couple of jump hooks. Tavares scored again but James Anderson and Singleton helped Efes tie the game, 20-20, after 10 minutes. Real's second unit took over early in the second quarter: Mickey hit a running hook, Fabien Causeur added a fastbreak layup and Llull downed a triple for a 27-22 lead. Rudy Fernandez followed Mickey's tip-in with a three-pointer but Larkin and Rodrigue Beaubois kept Efes as close as 32-28. Mickey provided a highlight with a huge one-handed alley-oop slam but Bugrahan Tuncer did better with a triple, getting help from Adrien Moerman to keep the guests within 38-36. Larkin buried a three-pointer and Simon added a floater that gave Efes its first lead, 40-41. Pleiss hit a jumper to fix the halftime score at 40-43. Thompkins struck from beyond the arc soon after the break, but Larkin took over with a lightning quick driving layup and a feed to Pleiss for an alley-oop dunk, but Deck's layup-plus-foul kept Madrid within 46-47. Larkin sank a couple of three-pointers to give Efes fresh air at 48-53. Llull answered from downtown and connected with Thompkins for a dunk but Singleton, Larkin and Beaubois - with a coast-to-coast buzzer-beating layup - restored a 55-59 Efes lead after 30 minutes. Anderson scored again early in the fourth quarter and Larkin sank his fifth triple to boost his team's margin to 55-64. Fernandez answered from three-point territory and Llull struck twice from downtown, giving Real hope, 64-67, with over 6 minutes left. Larkin buried a catch-and-shoot rainbow jumper and followed Pleiss's basket with driving layup for a 67-73 score. Tavares had three blocks in less than two minutes while Fernandez, Llull and Campazzo delivered on offense, making it a one-point game, 72-73. But Pleiss swished a triple in the next-to-last minute and Larkin added consecutive driving layups to seal the outcome down the stretch.

Pivotal performer

Shane Larkin made the difference all game long and was completely unstoppable. He finished the game with 32 points on excellent shooting percentages (5-of-8 two-pointers, 5-of-6 three-pointers, 7-of-7 free throws), adding 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 8 fouls drawn. Simply put, he is dominating the competition this season.

Game-changing moment

A three-pointer by Facundo Campazzo allowed Madrid to get within 72-73 with under three minutes left. But then Tibor Pleiss buried a three-pointer from the top of the key right in front of Edy Tavares, and then Larkin decided he’d had enough, scoring twice in penetration to seal the outcome.

Stellar stat

Madrid took 33 three-point shots, making just 11 (33.3%). Efes only took 19 shots from downtown but fired in 10 of them (52.6%). Efes attacked the rim much more, going to the foul line more often. The guests hit 20-of-23 free throws (87%) and Madrid had a perfect percentage (100%) but only took 6 free throw attempts.

Did you notice?

It was Efes's first road win against Real since January 26, 2005. That night, Efes beat Madrid 57-72 behind 23 points from Niksa Prkacin and 16 from Ermal Kuqo. Since then, Efes had registered 12 consecutive losses against Real in the Spanish capital before this game. It was also Coach Ergin Ataman's first-ever win at WiZink Center.

Next game:

Real visits Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv on Thursday, January 30 at 20:05 in the most repeated game in European basketball history. Efes visits Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade on Friday, January 31 at 19:00 CET.

Shane Larkin - Anadolu Efes Istanbul - EB19
Friday, January 24, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: BELOSEVIC, ILIJA; RADOVIC, SRETEN; VILIUS, GYTIS
Attendance: 11338
By Quarter1234
Real Madrid20201520
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20231621
End of Quarter1234
Real Madrid20405575
Anadolu Efes Istanbul20435980
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 7:34 4 2/2 0/1         1         1 1 4
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 20:21 8 1/1 2/6         3         1 1 7
7 CAMPAZZO, FACUNDO 21:17 10 1/4 2/5 2/2   1 1 3 2 2     1 3 10
8 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 4:59                         1   -1
9 REYES, FELIPE 6:19 2 1/1 0/2   1   1           1    
14 DECK, GABRIEL 18:44 6 1/3 1/2 1/1 2 1 3 3   1     3 2 7
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 11:44 3 0/3 1/4   1   1     2     3   -7
22 TAVARES, WALTER 27:04 6 2/4   2/2 5 7 12 2 1 1 3   2 1 20
23 LLULL, SERGIO 28:16 13 0/3 4/8 1/1   1 1 5   3       3 12
25 MICKEY, JORDAN 14:00 8 4/5     1 5 6 1 2 1     4 2 13
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 23:53 15 6/8 1/3     4 4 1 2       3 1 16
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 15:49   0/1 0/2             1   1 1   -6
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 75 18/35 11/33 6/6 13 20 33 19 7 11 3 1 21 14 79
        51.4% 33.3% 100%
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 36:16 32 5/8 5/6 7/7   3 3 4 2 5   1 3 8 36
1 BEAUBOIS, RODRIGUE 27:29 7 2/4 1/4     1 1 2 2 2   1 2 2 4
2 SINGLETON, CHRIS 31:51 7 0/1 1/3 4/4 2 5 7 1 1 1   1 2 3 12
4 BALBAY, DOGUS 17:02 5 1/3 1/1   1 1 2 2         1   6
8 GECIM, TOLGA DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15 SANLI, SERTAC 4:48                   1         -1
18 MOERMAN, ADRIEN 9:00 5 1/1   3/4   1 1             2 7
19 TUNCER, BUGRAHAN 2:41 3   1/1                   1   2
21 PLEISS, TIBOR 31:09 13 5/7 1/1   1 4 5     1     3 1 13
23 ANDERSON, JAMES 8:59 3 0/2 0/1 3/4 1   1           1 3 2
25 PETERS, ALEC 3:12 3 0/1   3/4                   1 2
44 SIMON, KRUNOSLAV 27:33 2 1/3 0/2     5 5 4   2 1   2 1 5
Team           1 4 5               5
Totals 200:00 80 15/30 10/19 20/23 6 24 30 13 5 12 1 3 15 21 93
        50% 52.6% 87%
Head coach: ATAMAN, ERGIN

Head Coaches

LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"First of all, congratulations to Efes for the victory. I believe it was a very balanced game and it was shown in the scoreboard. We had a very good start but knew that they would quickly get back in the game. Some of their bench players gave them the things they were missing and then they have a very decisive player in Larkin, who had a great game, with very good shooting percentages. He made important shots and you probably think of those important baskets he made, so difficult, and the last two shots Pleiss made. These baskets were decisive at the end of a very balanced game. As for us, I have the feeling we have improved in many aspects of the game. We had been struggling in the last month or six weeks, and we improved in aspects like rebounding and assists... but we have to try, as a team, to make less mistakes. I would have to talk about very technical basketball stuff, in which we are punished, and we have to bounce back on that, little by little. I believe the team fought, which is not negotiable, and I have the feeling that we lost a balanced game, decided in the final minutes because of their good decisions. We played against the best team in the EuroLeague right now."
ATAMAN, ERGIN
Anadolu Efes Istanbul

"Before we talk about the game, I have to say that we are very sorry because this afternoon, in the eastern part of Turkey, there was a big earthquake and so far we lost 18 people. The situation is not good, so for this, we are very sorry. About the game, in the first 4-5 minutes, we risked losing control of the game, because we started very slow and made 4 turnovers in the first 3 minutes. But then by putting Balbay on the court, we improved our aggressiveness and were successful to keep Campazzo under control, who was very aggressive in the beginning of the game, getting two steals on Larkin. After this, we balanced the game and started to play our game, our transition game and pick-and-roll. Larkin found his tempo in the pick-and-roll offense. In the second half, when we got control, we were successful to play our game, except five minutes, and I think that one more time we played a perfect game on the road. Larkin is a great player. I believe that last two years, in our team, he improved his basketball. He improved mentally and right now, for me, he is the best player in Europe. But of course, before I worked with many great players like Deron Williams, Petar Naumoski, Carlos Arroyo... every player has a different quality. Shane Larkin sometimes is very difficult to stop. He is a great player and luckily for me, I work with him. Two weeks ago, we beat Barcelona in Barcelona and now, Real Madrid here. We will continue to play our basketball. Playoffs and the Final Four are different - last year, the first team in the Regular Season lost important players in the Final Four and finished in fourth position. We will continue the same way but I believe this is another important situation. All of these games that we won, we played without Bryant Dunston in the last three months, our first center, and the last four games, including Barcelona and Madrid, we are without Micic. It shows the great power of the team without these important players, especially Micic on this court. This team gives me a lot of confidence, but we will see."

"First of all, I am very happy because in my coaching career, it is my first victory on this court, in Madrid. For Efes, I believe it is the first victory after 15 years. I think the team deserved this. We talked about this in the morning meeting, that in the last 15 years any Efes team didn't win here, but I saw that this team is ready to win everything. So one more time, great game, great hustle, we played very smart, great defense and it is a very important victory. Of course, to continue to stay on the first position and to beat the second-place Real Madrid in their home court is a great victory. Congratulations to all of my players. I said before the game and this season, on the road, we only lost one game in Athens. We beat everybody on the road and now, it is Madrid. We won all four games in Spain. We beat all four Spanish teams in Spain. It is a big success for the players."

Players

LLULL, SERGIO
Real Madrid
"Just like last week's games, this was decided by small details and we didn't have patience. We didn't know how to play down the stretch against a team that is in very good shape and has a lot of confidence, unlike us. Larkin is playing with a lot of confidence. He is a great player who can hurt you in many ways, and he proved it again tonight. He hit a lot of big shots and a couple of layups in the final minutes. He has a lot of confidence, we tried to stop him but couldn't do it. Being tired is not an excuse. We have a long enough roster to not used being tired as an excuse. We are in a negative streak right now and don't have enough patience to prepare the games and play them. We want to win by 20 playing well, but there are games like this in which you have to work. We didn't take the best shots, me included, because we wanted to do well and win, and that went against us. We took wrong decisions down the stretch and they did better, managing the small details."
LARKIN, SHANE
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It was a big win for us. It is the first time we’ve won here in 15 years and Coach Ataman's first win here, so we had a lot of motivation going into this game. We are playing really well right now. We came in here focused. We knew that they were going to fight and it was going to be a tough one, but we stayed together as a team and pulled it out at the end. We are just playing really well as a team. I am not going to be able to do any of these things without my teammates, so I will credit my teammates, my coaching staff and hopefully we can just keep doing what we are doing."
PLEISS, TIBOR
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
"It was amazing in the end. I think over the game we didn't play so well sometimes and Real played really aggressive. It was really tough for us to get some open three-point shots, but in the end, we showed strength and won the game."
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