The shining Shane – back and wild for Anadolu Efes in the first overtime of the Euroleague season
In this Euroleague Round 2, we had the first game of the season that needed overtime: Anadolu Efes vs ALBA Berlin. After a high scoring game and many lead changes, the game ended 95-95 thanks to Shane Larkin’s missed layup. In overtime Anadolu had the edge from the start to the last second, winning 106-105. Let’s see some interesting facts about both teams.
Anadolu Efes: They managed to get the win after a good battle and a very good offensive game. They finished with 55,9% shots made from the field, with huge 55% from the 3-point line. Despite the match included also overtime, they didn’t use the bench players so much, with the starting players ending with over 30 minutes played each, including 41 for Micic and 37 for Anderson. The top performers for Anadolu were Shane Larkin with 26 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and Vasilije Micic with 23 points and 13 assists.
ALBA Berlin: Despite being the underdog for this clash, they’ve made a hell of a match. First of all, with their 14 threes, they set a new club record in Euroleague, finishing the game with 14 attempts made out of 30 from the distance. Second, they smashed their opponents in the rebounds battle with 41-29. Third, they used more players in the rotation with 10 players ending with 9+ minutes on the court, compared with Anadolu’s 8. Top performers for ALBA were: Rokas Giedraitis with 21 points and 6 rebounds, Luka Sikma with 15 points and 8 rebounds and Tyler Cavanaugh with 14 points and 8 rebounds. Bad news for them as Martin Hermannsson (11 assists in the game) left the game in the third quarter with an injury.
The upcoming game for Anadolu is away at Bandirma in TBL and in the Euroleague round, they face Valencia in Spain. ALBA has to travel back to Germany to play against Frankfurt in the national league and then they face another big test against Barcelona in Spain.
Photo: euroleague.net
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
