Advance | Watching Ataman clench his fists and brandish them in the air and Micic open his arms angrily flexing his muscles to celebrate success, almost as if the champion had taken a decisive step to win another Euroleague, gives an idea of the importance of Anadolu Efes’ victory , in full fight to climb positions. And it gives an idea of the great rival that they faced this time, the best Madrid so far this year, magnificent for three quarters, although the effervescence of their new attack, a reorganized one, faded when the goal was already intuited (93-90 ). That last act, in which he was traveling 10 up (74-84) in the 31st minute, cost him the victory. From then to the end, a partial 19-6 with the Whites going 1 of 8 from three-pointers when until then they had boasted 10 of 18.
Deck, who did not rest for a second, and Yabusele, who played 37:43, were two giants mixing perfectly as threes and fours, in the first hopeful demonstration of their joint potential: they grouped 43 points (23, a personal record, and 20), 15 rebounds (10 and 5), 9 assists (4 and 5) and a PIR of 55 (31 and 24). But they arrived fatigued and extra vigilant at the end, although the Argentine was capable of scoring 9 of the 11 meringue goals in the final quarter. His last hit, at 2:33 from the buzzer: 88-90. Dunston closed the zone and Moerman, Micic (29 points and 6 assists) and a more failing Larkin carried all their talent. The French power forward was categorical with his cornered triples (4 of 5 and 18 points) when the possessions expired.
Laso’s men, who played in practice without an escort with Hanga giving the other forward an offensive air, and with Williams-Goss as the main point guard, got stuck when it was time to dive under the goal with their chest stretched out. Without Llull (the entire match on the bench), Rudy played the last one to try to force extra time: 93-90. Terrible resolution of a very good match.
Efes had courage and even luck, like when Micic fell to the ground, knocked Deck down and the ball ended up in the hands of Elijah Bryant to execute from the tiple in his only shot. It was the first local advantage in 38 minutes. Before, they had placed a supposed stopper on Tavares, which caused a wound on his forehead that sent him to the bench (the pivot, by the way, made a bad gesture in the first half and his left knee slipped a bit, leaving him aftermath).
Efes squeezes into fifth place, although with options to be fourth. Madrid, for its part, has a truce, at least of sensations, because in the other thing, in terms of winning and losing, it has chained five defeats in its last eight games. On Thursday, more: Tel Aviv and Maccabi. He is still second and already has the court advantage for the quarterfinal playoff with three games still to go. Objective accomplished. He achieved it after saving the average against Efes (82-69 at the Palacio) and after discovering Bayern’s defeat at the OAKA an hour and a half later. And it is that he also has the average earned with Olympiacos and beat Armani Milan twice. No multiple tie can leave me out of those four privileged positions. Good news despite the defeat.
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