Efes made it a thriller, but… caught Zalgiris!

In a match that seemed easy, Efes Anadolu defeated Zalgiris Kaunas in Istanbul only 86-82 for the seventh game of the Euroleague and the two teams found themselves with a 3-4 record in the standings.

The Turks reached double-digit differences in the first three periods, but in the fourth consecutive three-pointers by the Lithuanians gave them a +1 lead, the match turned into a derby, but the home team’s bigger class gave them the victory in the last seconds.

Leading the winners were Clyburn with 20, Thompson with 17, Larkin with 14 and Willis, Jones with 11 points. For the Lithuanians, Evans stood out with 20, Schmitz with 16, Dimsa with 15 and Hayes with 13 points.

The match

Zalgiris led 5-2 and 10-4 with Hayes leading the way. The big miss by the Turks kept +6 for the Lithuanians, with Dimsa making it 6-14. There, the two-time European champion found the solutions and, with Clyburn as the protagonist, made a 7-0 run and reduced 13-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The Americans of Efes with a 4-0 run at the beginning of the second period brought +3 for the Turks. An 8-0 run by Efes led by Thompson made it 25-16 for Chan’s team, which maintained a +5 to +8 streak against the Lithuanian champions. Larkin started to “wake up” and helped an 8-0 run for the home team +13 on a poor defense of the visitors in the perimeter, with Larkin closing 38-26 at the half. Efes had 8/11 shots and 24 rebounds, while Zalgiris had 3/13 three-pointers and 13 rebounds.

The two consecutive three-pointers of the Turks at the beginning of the third period brought +18 for Efes and Thompson’s +15 for the champion of Turkey. Schmitz helped fuel a 6-0 Lithuanian run to within 9 and another 5-0 run made it 51-46 at the end of the quarter.

An improbable 8-0 run by Zalgiris at the start of the fourth period made it 53-54 for the visitors with back-to-back 3-pointers. Efes answered with three pointers of their own for a 9-0 run to make it 62-54. Consecutive three-pointers on either side made it 65-59 for Efes, with Willis leading the way with two runs for 68-61. Zalgiris’ three straight three-pointers, two by Evans, cut it to 72-70 at 1:46.

At 74-70, a 6-0 Zalgiris run made it 74-76, Clyburn tied it at 76-76. Three-pointers by Schmitz and Bobois brought the score to 79-79 at 2’03”. Evans’ shot made it 79-80, but the “crescendo” of three-pointers continued for Efes, with Larkin making it 82-80. Ulanovas made it 82-82, but with a 4-0 run, Efes made it 86-82 at 9” and got the pink card.

The quarters:

The statistics