Euroleague, Efes confirms champion: Real ko 58-57
In a final as bad as it is thrilling the real Madrid commands for a long time, spoils and ends up in suicide, like this the Efeswoke up when it really matters, confirms himself as champion. The 58-57 worth the second Euroleague at IstanBluthat after the last place in 2018 a real epic began to dominate: first the final lost with CSKA, then in the canceled season due to a pandemic and now the double, for the last time at Olympiacos between ’12 and ’13.
In Belgrade, the faces of triumph are those of Vasilije Micic and Tibor Pleiss, both lethal from the field. The Serbian makes 23 and for the 2nd year in a row he is MVP of the Final Four, a great calling card for an NBA that is ever closer to embracing him. There are 19 instead for the German, who with an intermittent Larkin and a sign only in the first half stands as second violin, determining the final with 15 points in the final 14 ‘.
The other side of the evening is a Real who wallows in the low pace of the race but misses the scratch to fly away, thanks to the 6/33 from outside and the absence of a prominent soloist. There is just 14 + 11 rebounds of Tavares, which however gives almost everything in a first quarter of absolute domination under the bridge. Only that at 10th he is already two fouls, which forces him to bench for the whole second quarter and breaks his rhythm. Real commands even without him but never finds the partial extension, despite a Efes who in the first half is all in the flames of Micic and Larkin (23 points out of 29 of the team) and who in the third is nailed to 2 for half the period. Here Hanga signs a +9 which surprisingly rekindles the Turks, who recover with a 7-0 lead by Pleiss and, at the start of the fourth, they overtake with a triple from Micic and a dunk from Singleton.
A point-to-point ending comes out: Pleiss corrects Micic’s thrust and the 40th opens to the Turkish +3Llull – the most active of his – shortens in penetration ea 44 ”from the siren is the ball to Efes and Real two fouls from the bonus. Reached with a 15 ”time trial, here however Laso chooses not to send the blues to the bezel: a risky move that costs dearlybecause even if Larkin throws the three times the knockout on the iron the ball splashes like soap and does not allow replicas, decreeing the triumph of Ataman.