By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes have been absolutely rolling in EuroLeague and on Tuesday they did it again by crushing Maccabi Tel Aviv 90 – 66 on the road in a postponed game for Round 23 of the regular season.
This result marked the eighth consecutive victory for Efes in EuroLeague and, at the same time, the biggest deficit ever for Maccabi in a European game (per Arale Weisberg).
Vasilije Micic and Shane Larkin led an balanced and highly productive offensive effort for Efes with 15 points apiece while Tibor Pleiss and Krunoslav Simon contributed 10 points each as their team finished with 15-26 3-pointers and 22 assists.
“The way that we play, we share the ball,” Larkin said on the secret behind his team’s efficiency. “Every single night, it’s not the same guy. Sometimes it’s me, sometimes Micic, Kruno, Roddy, Adrien, whoever. You know, we have a lot of weapons. And when you play like that, you play unselfish, it’s very hard to defend. And then defensively, we all fight, we all know each other, we know our strengths and weaknesses, and at this point, we’re just rolling.”
Maccabi was unable to both push back its opponents’ attacks or match their firepower. Scottie Wilbekin finished with 15 points, Ante Zizic had 14 points and six rebounds while Tyler Dorsey scored 10.
“Tonight we tried to fight, but our fight was not enough, obviously,” Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos said on his team’s effort. “We knew that they have great quality and great solutions in every position with a lot of players who are in their best form now, individually but also as a team.”
“I was very angry for EuroLeague’s cancelation”
After the game, Efes coach Ergin Ataman talked about how his team recovered from its slow start in the beginning of the season, saying that this was also affected by the cancelation of 2019-2020.
“I was very angry for EuroLeague canceling last season,” Ataman said. “Many big competitions in Europe, in football and also in basketball in the Champions League. In football… Champions League, UEFFA League, NBA. Everybody finished the season. But EuroLeague they don’t care about what the players made, our efforts for eight months and they canceled.”
Ergin Ataman: I was very angry for EuroLeague canceling last season. Many big competitions in Europe finished the season.
EuroLeague… they don't care for what the players made… our efforts of eight months
(via Maccabi Tel Aviv/Facebook) pic.twitter.com/WEhLhKqGih
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) March 16, 2021
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball