Olympiacos – Anadolu Efes – GETTY
MADRID, 19 (EUROPA PRESS)
Anadolu Efes will defend its title in the final of the Euroleague in Belgrade thanks to a basket on the buzzer by Micic, who knocked down Olympiacos on Thursday (74-77) in the first semifinal of the ‘Final Four’.
Ergin Ataman, coach of the Turks, was clear on the last possession with 74-77: “Six seconds, Micic.” The Serb didn’t really let go of the ball and, in the countdown, from the line of three, with a step back to avoid the wall, he won the game.
The Turkish team, defending champion, will play its third consecutive final on Saturday against the winner of the second semi-final, which is followed by Real Madrid and Barça at the Stark Arena. Efes had to sweat, held by Larkin (21 points) and Bryant (16).
Many initially doubted whether they were in Belgrade or Piraeus. The Greek team monopolized the stands at the beginning of the ‘Final Four’ as well as the first minutes against an Efes that, without excessive fueling, did not lose sight of the score at halftime (43-42). With a lot of defense and a Fall dominating the Turkish rim, the 12-5 after six minutes ended up making Ataman uncomfortable.
The defender of the title showed that the points drop when he comes to a boil and, mostly with Larkin (16 points in the first half), he made up the light in a moment. Dunston and Bryant joined that success of three to turn the score around (14-18), but Bartzokas’s men were not intimidated.
The triple eluded them, but in play they created more and better to send to rest. Hassan Martin took over from Fall in the interior domain, although between Larkin and a dash from Micic, the first semi-final continued between two waters after 20 minutes.
It was the champion’s turn to show his cards and at the restart he had his moment. Bryant stayed plugged in and Efes left with a 51-62. Against the ropes, after going unnoticed, the Greek team found Vezenkov and a Dorsey who set Piraeus on fire again heading into the last quarter (63-66).
Efes did not know how to kill the game and, with an irreducible Olympiacos, the end was heart-stopping. Both teams failed very hastily in search of the hoop. One-on-one was the option, but Vezenkov and Sloukas couldn’t handle it. A very tense 11-11 left the last quarter. Micic missed two free throws to sentence and did not hit the next one either, but in the last one he sent the Greeks home and Efes back to the last step.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: OLYMPIACOS, 74 – ANADOLU EFES, 77. (43-42, at halftime).
–TEAMS.
OLYMPIACOS: Walkup (5), Dorsey (11), Vezenkov (5), Papanikolaou (10) y Fall (7) –quinteto initial– Sloukas (11), Larentzakis (-), Mckissic (12), Printezis (2 ), Martin (11).
ANADOLU EFES: Larkin (21), Micic (15), Anderson (-), Moerman (-) y Pleiss (8) –quinteto inicial–; Balbay, Bryant (16), Beaubois (-), Singleton (5), Dunston (12).
–PARTIALS: 21-18, 22-24, 20-24, 11-11.
–REFEREE: Ryzhyk, Latisevs and Vilius. Eliminated Dunston for fouls.
–PAVILLION: Stark Arena.