The good feelings that Barça had been showing, with six consecutive victories, with a painful and resounding defeat against Anadolu Efes, suddenly disappeared at the Sinan Erdem in Istanbul. Bad feelings left the duel in a Barça key after a horrible second half going down. It is Grimau’s turn to work on the mental aspect with his players and convince them to quickly forget what happened to try to get back on track. The proximity of the Copa del Rey forces the Barcelona team to significantly improve its performance without delay.
Having already become a Euroleague classic, Barça did not trust an Efes that had fallen behind in the standings (15th) after a streak of seven consecutive defeats was broken last week and with a very consolidated block of players. Among them, Tibor Pleiss, who entered the game like no one else, setting the pace. The first eight points of the Ottomans bore his signature.
It was an unattractive first quarter, with many shortcomings on both teams, and the fact that it ended was the best thing for everyone. Both Efes and Barça scored with ease against defenses that were leaking everywhere. The Blaugranas also insisted on shooting from three every time they could without hardly generating plays across the board and the game was tedious. Grimau’s team launched up to ten triples, one per minute, and they went to the bench with only two fouls committed. Efes, for its part, did not score from the goal in its six attempts and that allowed the score to not be broken (18-13).
Despite a horrendous start to the second quarter, which allowed the hosts to extend the lead to 24-15 to the delight of Sinan Erdem, Barça found their way into the game by chewing up their attacks more and also thanks to the inspiration of a superb Willy Hernangómez in stroke. The Madrid center led the reaction with a 0-7 that began to compress the light and made it 29-31 after an alley-oop by Jokubaitis that marked the first Barça advantage of the afternoon.
The last stretch of the road to half-time had Ottoman color thanks to Larkin, always sharp against Barça. The skilled player from Ohio put Efes ahead and with a triple he once again established a good advantage for his team (40-34). But before the horn, a Parker not as in tune as he lately was able to cut back with free throws, a statistic that once again plagued Grimau’s team, and calm things down.
Looking at what we saw after the break, with a partial score of 56-35 for the Turks, it was putting a band-aid on a shark bite. Darius Thompson’s initial points began to outline Barça’s nightmare. The return of the outside shots began to condemn the Blaugrana, dismantled against an Efes that was catapulted by the talent of Beaubois – 19 points in the second half – and the unstoppable Larkin, who anticipated the disaster by scoring 72-60 before the last act .
The last ten minutes were a road of the cross for a Barça that couldn’t find a way to settle down and breathe easy. The attacks were crazy and the defense did not exist. Between Beaubois and Larkin they were in charge of digging into the wound, which at its worst reached 94-69 (minute 37). It was, without a doubt, an afternoon to forget.
98 – Anadolu Efes (18, 24, 30, 26): Larkin (15), Bryant (6), Thompson (7), Willis (6), Pleiss (17) -starting team-, Beaubois (21), Daum (3), Oturu (16), Clyburn (5), Jones (2) and Oncel (0).
74 – Barça (13 26 21 14): Satoransky (3), Brizuela (9), Kalinic (14), Parker (8), Vesely (6) -starting team-, Hernangómez (18), Jokubaitis (14), Da Silva (2) and Parra (0).
Referees: Tomislav Hordov (CRO), Ioannis Foufis (GRE) and Vasiliki Tsaroucha (GRE). Local coach Erdem Can was pointed out for a technical foul (min.20).
Incidents: matchday 22 of the Euroleague played at the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall in Istanbul (Turkey).
