Anadolu Efes and Real Madrid played another blockbuster game with a nail-biter ending. The Spanish giants had to succumb to Efes' great comeback rally led by Vasilje Micic and Shane Larkin again.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
29
|
| Vasilije Micic | |
| Points | 29 |
| Accuracy | 9-17 |
| Rebounds | 3 |
| Assists | 6 |
Despite the loss, Real Madrid's head coach Pablo Laso was not sad with what he had seen on the court.
"It is one of those days where you will not be happy because you need a win," Laso said. "But I will give credit to my players, they did a great job, fighting until the end. Also, you need to play a little bit better to win these kinds of games."
"I think we played pretty solid during 14 minutes both defensively and offensively but ran out of gas in the 4th quarter. We played very organized the whole game, closing our playbook, and it helped us today. We had open shots. We were able to control the defensive rebounds.
We know how much talent they have; even though they got 93 points, I think we stopped them. But we got more rebounds, more assists, fewer turnovers. That is more or less how we should play," Laso continued.
Asked whether this game reminded him of last year's epic playoff matchup where Efes won the series with the help of an incredible 3-pointer by Krunoslav Simon, Laso reflected his thoughts on the rivalry of Efes between Real Madrid.
"Efes-Real Madrid is becoming a Euroleague classic. Everyone remembers that playoff series last season where they really outplayed us here, we went 0-2, and nobody expected Real Madrid to come back with all our injuries. Fight until the last ball. Even my son remembers that Simon shot."
"Different teams, different years, but also the same energy. Efes and Real Madrid is a big game in EuroLeague right now. There are great players, and when we play each other, we play with that intensity that the fans love."
Gabriel Deck also played his best game with Real Madrid with a double-double (23 points and 10 rebounds) after his comeback from NBA, and Guerschon Yabusele's 20 points, 5 rebounds effort was also not enough.
