Anadolu Efes saves Real Madrid’s reaction to win at WiZink

64-74 for the Turkish team in a match full of ups and downs

Real Madrid lost 64-74 this Thursday against Anadolu Efes on matchday 10 of the regular Euroleague league, despite the attempted comeback led by Argentine point guard Facundo Campazzo, the best of the whites with his, dessert, unsuccessful 20 points and 24 assessment credits.

Things did not start well for the locals at the WiZink Center, conceding a small partial due to Darius Thompson, author of a lateral triple and a mid-court robbery culminating in a dunk. Then Stanley Johnson, with a basket at the buzzer, and former Real Madrid player Vincent Poirier, sinking the rim, further expanded the visitors’ lead.

On the part of Real Madrid, Mario Hezonja seemed flawed and was well defended by Johnson himself, while Alberto Abalde had no luck in his shot from the perimeter and Eli John Ndiaye was lost in attack. In addition, a triple by Ercan Osmani and another steal by Thompson in the middle of the field – to force a foul – nourished Efes’ harvest.

There were 4:04 left to finish the first quarter and Chus Mateo requested a timeout in search of a reaction. But not only did it not arrive, but the Turkish team increased its gap with the inside game of Osmani and Poirier. As if that were not enough, Rolands Smits with a counterattack dunk made it 4-19 with 46.2 left on the clock of that first act.

The poor streak of the meringues was ended by a Gaby Deck that did not work as a catalyst, nor did Xavier Rathan-Mayes, one of the most outstanding 48 hours earlier in the 98-86 victory against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, until that moment. For the second quarter, which began with 6-19 on the scoreboard, the dynamic remained similar despite the dance of names.

Serge Ibaka, Sergio Llull and the young Hugo González took over from some starters, but without finding a way to counteract Efes’ skill in the low post. Then the visiting coach, Tomislav Mijatovic, asked the ‘shorts’ of his squad to calm down with +17 at 7:01 before halftime.

Without the injured Shane Larkin, Elijah Bryant emerged as a key man, including a ‘bombshell’ to raise the score to 10-30 in a more subdued pavilion than in the match against Virtus. A triple by Facu Campazzo to make it 16-32 could have reversed that, but an immediate 2+1 by Bryant himself kept the distance. Calm and calmer Mijatovic wanted.

The Croatian coach’s plan was close to perfection in terms of 17-40, which grew to 18-45 after a triple by Jordan Nwora. In dribs and drabs, with free throws from Ibaka, a couple of actions from Hezonja and an entry into the hoop from Campazzo, the Madridistas ironed out their disadvantage to go into halftime down 25-47, but without a three-pointer that was very far away from Facu.

After the restart, Deck took on offensive responsibility while, in defence, the rest of the white team tried to close the gaps for Rodrigue Beaubois as a sidekick to Thompson and Poirier. In front, Campazzo began to get his act together, thanks to a triple with three defenders on top and after complaining about a possible previous foul that the referees ignored.

Mijatovic spent a timeout, which was of little use as his team lost the ball to Hezonja’s push as soon as he took a throw-in. However, the Croatian forward committed a foul in attack, disputed by the bench and by fans who longed for the start of the comeback.

Another virguería by Campazzo, a foul in attack by Bryant, a triple by Hezonja, a rebound captured by Walter Tavares and a foul committed by Poirier laid the foundations to believe in the umpteenth miracle of Real Madrid. An Efes threatened to enter into collapse that did not know how to stop the Campazzo-Hezonja duo, the one that has shone so many times.

A three-pointer by Nwora from the corner, on the counterattack after a steal by Thompson, made it 45-57 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. But not even from the free throw line did the Ottoman team find a respite, finding themselves 49-58 at the end of the 30th minute and with Dogus Özdemiroglu missing a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Özdemiroglu also missed another shot from beyond the arc at the start of a nightmare final quarter for Efes. Not in vain, Hezonja did nail a front three-pointer and then Llull scored the 54-58 basket while leaning on the backboard during a fast break, after only a minute and a half had elapsed, enough to anger Mijatovic.

At the end of another timeout called by the visiting coach, a triple by Beaubois and an offensive rebound by Daniel Oturu in the face of ‘Edy’ Tavares calmed the waters. But it was fleeting, since Efes had a hard time making points and that was combined with Llull’s insistence on three-pointers, scoring the one that made it 61-63 with 5:17 left.

The shadow of extra time had been hanging over the WiZink Center for some time, reminiscent of the eternal duel between these same two teams on January 5, when they played up to four extra times. In this situation, Hezonja prowled the equalizer on the scoreboard with a dunk on the counterattack that Thompson prevented with a block catching the ball.

The play had a referee review for several minutes, to see who was last to touch the ball and whether or not Thompson had stepped on the baseline when throwing it to Hezonja, who was on the ground. Possession favored Real Madrid, where Llull grabbed stripes to force a foul on a drive into the basket, although Mahón’s man made only one free throw (62-63).

In the next two attacks by Efes, a triple by Derek Willis and another by Beaubois made it 62-69, to the dismay of a WiZink that still had 2:23 left to watch in a strange game. Although it was the usual script for a Merengue comeback, Campazzo missed two three-pointers in a row and the stopwatch ran out between stops of the referee trio.

Lottermoser, Nikolic and Udyanskyy called Campazzo for a technical foul after the second of those missed shots, which helped the Istanbul team to rise to an almost final 62-70. Between new errors by Real Madrid in long shots, Llull’s protests that earned him elimination and the running out of the clock, the match had no more history.

This defeat placed Chus Mateo’s pupils with a balance of 4-6, slipping from the play-in positions and once again with bad feelings in an autumn that is choking on them. Efes, now with a record of 6-4, occupies more advanced positions and is even looking for the playoff area that is gradually becoming more expensive.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: REAL MADRID, 64 – ANADOLU EFES, 74 (25-47, at halftime)

–TEAMS.

REAL MADRID: Campazzo (20), Abalde (4), Hezonja (13), Ndiaye (-) and Tavares (4) –starting quintet–; Deck (10), Feliz (-), Ibaka (5), Llull (6), Rathan-Mayes (-) and González (2).

ANADOLU EFE: Beaubois (9), Thompson (10), Johnson (3), Poirier (8) and Osmani (5) –quinteto inicial–; Oturu (5), Willis (3), Bryant (13), Nwora (9), Smits (8), Özdemiroglu (-).

–PARTIALS: 6-19, 19-28, 24-11 and 15-16.

–REFEREES: Lottermoser, Nikolic and Udyanskyy. Llull was eliminated at Real Madrid due to personal fouls.

–PAVILLION: WiZink Center, 8,434 spectators.