Real Madrid humiliate Anadolu Efes 104-84: Euroleague Recap
After two consecutive losses in two weeks, Spanish giants Real Madrid came back strongly and overpowered Turkish Anadolu Efes 104-84 in a high scoring game witnessed by a capacity crowd at the Madrid Caja Magica.
In what was a thoroughly clinical performance, Real Madrid outclassed their opponents in all departments specifically on free throws, hitting 17 for 23 in contrast to Efes’s meager 7 for 13.
Real dominated the play right from the word go and had already turned the game in their favor by the end of third quarter after accumulating a 19 point lead. The last quarter was a mere formality and fortunately for Efes, the buzzer
rang and they were saved from more humiliation.
Jaycee Carroll was again the most outstanding player for Real and finished the night with 19 points. He was aggressive and knocked down 5 for 8 from the 8 meters and an accurate 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Nikola Mirotic,
who has had a dormant tournament so far was the surprise package tonight and scored 17 points on 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Carlos Suarez chipped in with his 15 whereas Rudy Fernandez added another 14 to the tally.
From Efes, Dusko Savanovic and Ermal Kuqo both scored 15 points while Ersan Ilyasova chipped in with his 14 and 5 rebounds.
Real started well as only few seconds into the game, Carlos Suarez lifted a driving layup followed by a free throw to provide Real an early lead of 3-0. Sinan Guler answered the early burst with a layup to make it 3-2 however two
consecutive strikes by Rudy followed by a 9-0 run midway through the quarter lifted Real into a dominating position and the lead swelled to 12 points 16-4.
Savanovic and Sasha Vujacic kept on chipping with points to cut the deficit and were aided well by Cenk Akyol who drilled two three’s in the later half to finish the quarter at 24-18 in the favor of Real.
Anadolu attacked the basket more aggressively in the starting minutes of second quarter and managed to bring down the deficit to 3 points at 30-27. Carroll and Nikola however initiated the onslaught to take Real’s lead in double
figure yet again.
Real were already leading by 10 points 46-36 with less than a minute in the quarter when a free throw by Sergio Rodriguez followed by a downtown strike by Carroll ensured they entered the second half of the game with a healthy
14 point lead.
In the third quarter, Real continued from where they left off and reeled off a 7 point spurt to take the lead to 21 points early in the third quarter. Efes made a gallant effort and gave everything they had to cut the deficit but
in doing so, they gave easy points to Real too who went on to score 31 points in the quarter.
By the end of the quarter, Real were ahead by 19 points at 81-62.
Efes did not go down without a fight though and scored a magnificent 14-2 run to get as close to 83-76 midway through the quarter. However Rudy Fernandez and Nikola Mirotic scored in quick succession at the crucial time and took
the game miles away from Efes again.
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