By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
What if star center Walter Tavares was missing for Real Madrid, veteran Sergio Llull took charge to stop Anadolu Efes from completing a sweep in Game 3 with an outstanding comeback for an 80-76 win! The Spanish team managed to cut the deficit to 2-1 with one more game to be played in Madrid on Thursday.
Real definitely hurt Efes‘ morale and now has the momentum, as Pablo Laso highlighted after the game. “They say in sports, those who win have momentum. Now we are hyped, but we didn’t do anything yet, and we have to understand it. I think we did a great job, all of my players, understanding the game. It took time, it was difficult”.
Real was down by 10 points while entering the fourth period (48-58), though not only did they cover up the gap, but managed to take a two-point lead with under a minute to play, thanks to the great offensive effort of Llull and Rudy Fernandez who were hot from the three-point line.
A turnover by Vasilije Micic handed Real possession once again and Usman Garuba converted it to score, as Real tapped a total of 32 points in the last period (they scored 28 in the entire first half).
“Maybe we started celebrating too early”, said coach Ergin Ataman after the game. “We panicked in the last four-three minutes because we stopped playing right, we missed open shots and then we did everything wrong”.
Alberto Abalde added up to Llull’s efforts with 11 points, Alex Tyus followed with 10 points and 7 rebounds, while Usman Garuba had 10 points and 9 rebounds for the winners.
Micic posted his best game in the series with 29 points and 6 assists, though his efforts wasn’t enough to hold off Real’s spectacular comeback in the fourth quarter.
Rodrigue Beaubois was not far behind with an 18-point game for Efes, while Shane Larkin signed off with just 6 points tonight.
Photo: EuroLeague