Barcelona – Anadolu Efes 82-77: “wipe” the European champions

The second meeting of last year’s finalists this year went exactly as we expected. Barcelona and Anadolu Efes put up a great fight for Palau Blaugrana, a tough fight. Intensity, strong tackles, tough defences, sending offs, suspensions with the Catalans taking the win (82-77), rising to 16-4 and moving on with the goal of first place of the regular season.

With a score of 9:10, the European champion, who shot from the three with tragic percentages, had little creativity and Vassilie Mitsic had a bad evening. The Serb scored a lot from the line of fire, assisted by Shane Larkin, but beyond that Efes doesn’t have much to retain besides his fighting spirit in defence. Ergin Ataman was sent off in the 23rd minute, at a time when the hosts were again led by Nikola Mirotic and his supporters Jokubaitis-Higgins.

The race

Better, more balanced start at Barcelona, ​​with Higgins lifting the executive weight in the fifth minute to make it 11-7 and Ataman saw his team have 2/9 shots. From 19-11, the Turks showed a good reaction, catching up and ending the season at -2, a number that looked flattering in their picture in the tenth minute and with 4/16 shots. However, they killed the Catalans and stayed close with 9/10 shots.

They took the lead (21-20) early in the second round, with Shane Larkin giving her the missed result. She went to +6 (32-26) in 16 minutes but didn’t maintain the momentum. Yukobaitis scored to equalize just before halftime (38:38), Mirotic took the lead again, Larkin responded with a three to make it 40:41, which meant the counterattack. The hosts’ 3/10 trebles and the visitors’ 3/14 were two performances that ‘showed’ a derby, but the only four final passes from Efes with Mitsic-Larkin that had one were the Turks’ biggest problem.

Barcelona came out on top with a quick 6-0 in the second half while Larkin was benched with an injury. Shortly after, Ergin Ataman was sent off and put on an epic show for Palau Blaugrana, with Laprovitolas and Martinez opening the fourth season with a 67-58 lead. This good run by the hosts did not deter Anadolu, who reduced to a point with a three from Larkin (73:72) who missed the chance to equalize in the next attack before Davis scored from the periphery to make it 78:72 at 2:48 . From then on, Barça didn’t give up any more rights and achieved their 15th win in 20 games that year.

THE REFEREES: Javor, Rizik, Hordov

THE TEN MINUTES: 19-17, 40-41, 61-56, 82-77

BARCELONA (Jasikevicius): Davis 7 (1), Exum 1, Sunley 13 (3/5 two points, 1/3 three points, 4/4 shots, 7 rebounds), Martinez 2, Smith, Hayes 4, Laprovitola 5 (1) , Higgins 9 (2/4 two points, 5/6 shots), Kuric 8 (2 three points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Yukobaitis 16 (3/6 two points, 3/4 three points, 1/3 shots) , Mirotic 15 (4/4 twos, 2/4 threes, 1/1 shot, 4 rebounds), Naji 2

ΑΝΑΝΤΟΛΟΥ ΕΦΕΣ (Ataman): Larkin 17 (1/3 two points, 3/7 three points, 6/7 shots, 4 assists), Boboa 2 (1/7 shots), Singleton 6 (3/4 two points), Bryant, Morman 6 (2), plays 2 (1/8 shots), Mitsic 18 (3/8 shots, 12/15 shots, 1 assist), Anderson 2, Petrushev, Dunston 12 (3/4 two points, 6/7 shots, 6 rebounds), Simon 12 (5/7 two points, 0/3 three points, 2/2 shots)

Barcelona team stats: 18/35 two points, 10/20 three points, 16/20 shots, 31 rebounds (23 defensive – 8 offensive), 18 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks, 13 errors

The group statistics of Anantolou Efes: 17/35 two points, 5/26 three points, 28/33 shots, 36 rebounds (21 defensive – 15 offensive), 9 assists, 7 steals, 10 errors

The next games of the two teams: In the 22nd game, Barcelona will play Unics in Kazan (20/1 at 18:00 CET), while Anadolu Efes will host Panathinaikos (21/1 at 19:30 CEST).