Barça beat champion Efes in an epic
Sanli leads the Blaugranas in the epic comeback against his former team
BARCELONA, 3 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça beat Anadolu Efes at the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall (93-95) in the extension of an authentic Turkish epic that had it all, with a Sertac Sanli who was Barça’s best against his former team and with 45 minutes of play that They had everything, with several changes of course and comebacks and even the disqualification of the local coach.
Barça toppled the reigning Euroleague champions to claim revenge for the final they lost in May at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. Then, Anadolu Efes was confirmed as a Blaugrana executioner to lift the title. This time, with no extra prize involved, Barça joined in their own faith to come back and defend their leadership.
With a great Sertac Sanli (24 points), playing the game of his life against his former team, Barça recovered from a bad first half with a spectacular fourth quarter but, there, they did not know how to close the duel. Up to two occasions he was able to sentence but he did not do it and Efes, with a great Micic, took the duel to extra time.
An ‘Overtime’ where Barça believed again and where they took advantage of the madness of Ergin Ataman, who received two consecutive techniques to be disqualified. Without their coach, the Efes players tried to cut the 84-91 averse and came close. But Barça defended well and, despite the fact that Nikola Mirotic was eliminated at the start of extra time – like Shane Larkin on the premises -, he found in Kuric and Sanli the necessary points to win.
There was nothing lacking in this reissue of the last final, between two teams thought to be in the ‘Final Four’ again. They both came on a positive streak of four victories and it is Barça who, away from home and in a match that they had lost at the start of the third quarter (52-40), remains victorious and leader of this Euroleague that already has one of the moments of the season.
In the second half, it was not until the start of the last quarter that Barça again took the initiative on the scoreboard (68-69, with a triple from Sanli). That’s when the comeback began and the belief that they could end four losses in a row against Anadolu Efes. And with Sanli, with Mirotic, with Kuric, with what he could, Barça saw the hoop more easily and was able to stop the Micic, a tremendous game for him, Larkin and company.
The ‘but’ for Barça was that with 70-75 in his favor he missed two triples in a row that would have sentenced the crash before extra time. And he repeated the mistake when, with 75-78 up shortly after, Nigel Hayes-Davis (0 points) missed two free throws with the air of a firm sentence. Wings for an Efes who forced extra time after Nikola Mirotic missed the final shot.
This time Barça did not need Mirotic’s points (18 points and 8 rebounds for him) in the extra time, as the Hispano-Montenegrin made the fifth personal. Without him, it was Kuric or Sanli, even Sergu Martínez with a vital triple or Rokas Jokubaitis with the impossible 2 + 1 final that he converted, who brought Barça to fruition after an epic epic that was a tragedy for the current champion.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: ANADOLU EFES, 93 – BARÇA, 95 (47-37 at half-time and 80-80 at the end of 40 minutes).
–EQUIPMENT.
ANADOLU EFES ISTANBUL: Larkin (14), Beaubois (6), Simon (10), Moerman (16) y Pleiss (13) –quinteto inicial–; Bryant (2), Micic (26), Anderson (-), Petrusev (4), Dunston (2).
BARÇA: Laprovittola (14), Hayes-Davis (-), Kuric (16), Mirotic (18) and Sanli (24) –initial quintet–; Davies (5), Martinez (5), Smits (2), Orihuela (2), Jokubaitis (9), Caicedo (-).
– PARTIALS: 25-20, 22-17, 21-25 and 12-18 (13-15, in extra time).
– REFEREES: Lamonica, Belosevic and Difallah. They eliminated Larkin at Anadolu Efes and Mirotic at Barça. They disqualified Ergin Ataman, Anadolu Efes coach.
– PAVILION: Sinan Erdem Sports Hall, 15,008 spectators.