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On Friday, Kaunas “Žalgiris” team in the Euroleague will face an extremely dangerous and excellent rival: Istanbul “Anadolu Efes”.
In the first round, “Anadolu” in Kaunas got a big niche – they lost even 16 points – 73:89. Then they didn’t have Shane Larkin and they came right after the game in Berlin where he was crushed by ALBA 93:72, but Ergin Ataman had little rotation in the lineup and Vasily Micic seemed barely pulling his legs.
The former Žalgiris spent up to 32 minutes on the field before his team, but he scored just 7 points and only scored 5 utility points. Chris Singleton generally remembers that game as a nightmare when he racked up 5 fouls, made 5 mistakes and committed 11.5 minutes. finished the show with -8 points.
Anadolu Efes dominated last season and earned a solid first place. The Turkish club seemed to continue their powerful march at the start of the season, but early on, Anadolu’s match reminded fans returning from a summer break that they hadn’t had the ball in their hands for three months and still had a lot of time. unnecessary kilos.
Veteran Krunoslav Simon took the lead at such a difficult time for the team: the 35-year-old Croatian recorded excellent stats in the first 8 rounds: 12.5 points and 16.6 utility points. Through his efforts, Anadolu was able to rack up victories and not fall too low.
“With the belly” and a lot of rusty Anadolu managed just 8 victories in the first round of the Euroleague and was left out of the eight, which fueled the conversation that perhaps this team will no longer show anything of what we saw last year, but Anadolu’s own players were confident of their abilities. At the start of the second round, Etaman said the team was now trying to improve their positions to gain a home-field advantage before the quarterfinals, making it clear that a possible failure for the next round was not even thought of. . .
Anadolu have won 9 of 10 matches in the second round, losing only to St. Petersburg against Zenit, who have landed twice this season. Perhaps the series is 10 of 11, but the duel with Maccabi Tel Aviv is postponed and will take place on March 16.
The Istanbul team may have questioned their game, but not the potential and mastery we’ve seen before. V.Micičius acquired such a sporting form that he shot 37 points and scored 44 utility points against the team “Fenerbahče”, although until then he was statistically very poor competing against this opponent.
We can still call Sh.Larkin reserve. If last year he was the absolute MVP of the tournament, setting new records, now he is in the shadows. The scoring stats of 14.7 points and 17 utility are solid, but the defender can do much better. Here, in the last three meetings, he earns only 12 points each and accumulates 14 utility points each. The importance of Sh.Larkin to the Anadolu team is especially highlighted, but last week he stepped onto the floor when his team beat the men of CSKA Moscow by 20 points. Obviously, Sh.Larkin is the player who can explode with 40 utility points in any match. Hopefully this will not happen against Žalgiris.
At one point, Bryant Dunston had become the player who led the team on the attack, even though he is a defensively focused center. His best performance this season is still 20 points in Žalgiris’ basket, and the season average is 9 points. The 34-year-old veteran doesn’t create opportunities himself, but he makes very good use of what his teammates create for him: The American has to carry the ball from above. Maybe on another team B.Dunston would look much darker, but when creators like Sh.Larkin, V.Micičius or K. Simonas are close to you, you will definitely have your chances.
The most recent statement can be attributed to Sertač Shanli, whose name many have not yet learned to pronounce and call Turkish Sertaku. The 29-year-old, 212cm tall Turk used to be the third center to get the most chances at the local championships, but recently Shanli has become a very important player in Anadolu’s attack. The last three meetings are the best section of his career in the Euroleague: 15.6 points and 20.6 utility points. Ataman trusts Shanli because not only can he play well close to the basket, but he can also hit a medium shot or a triple. Here he launched the 3 to the basket of Valencia, Shanli fought badly for the balls (3 balls in 24 minutes in the last section of the game), but the attack is tremendously dangerous and versatile.
This is how Tibor Pleiss fell into oblivion. The German had missed up to 10 Euroleague rounds due to injury and returned in a duel with Piraeus Olympiacos, but played only 2 minutes and did not appear on the field for the next 3 rounds.
Anadolu also has Adrien Moerman and Chris Singleton on the front line. The latter is more action-oriented towards his basket, so his stats aren’t brilliant: 5.7 points in 22 minutes. Moerman has been looking weak lately and has never won double-digit points in the last 8 games. The Frenchman is still dangerous as he can shoot 3-pointers and still fight solidly for the balls. The statistics for the season look good: 7.1 points, 5 rebounds and 9 utility points in 22 minutes.
We can call Rodrigue Beaubois a true “humor player”. The 33-year-old and 190 cm tall defender cannot score a single point in 19 minutes and score -4 points, but no one will be surprised if in the next game he will score 19 points in 27 minutes and record the utility of 22 points. French is a true “X factor” and it is very important not to let him feel the game from the first appearance on the floor. The last section is a success for R. Beaubois (14.6 points and 15.6 points), so “Žalgiris” must be prepared for the threat beyond the basket not only from V.Micičius or Sh.Larkinas, but also from R.Beaubois.
Probably the last season of “Anadolu” is defended by former Andalusian James Anderson. The American, who will soon celebrate his 32nd birthday, has completely disappeared in the shadow of other players and is only picking up crumbs on the field – he has only played 7 minutes in the last three games. Anderson does not play a major role in the attack (4.6 points in 17 minutes), and his best numbers were picked up when there were no Sh.Larkinas, R. Beaubois or V. Backicles upsetting V. Micicčius. Looking back at J. Anderson’s game in “Žalgiris” and his career in the Euroleague, it seems that these are different players. Anderson played a significant role in both Darushshafaka’s team in Istanbul and Khimki’s teams in the Moscow region, but he scored just 9.2 points, and David Blatt called it a major disappointment. Anadolu Efes’ three seasons, with a very limited role, allowed him to earn money and fight for the top positions.
Somewhere in the bottom of the bank, Anadolu also has the only purchase made during the season: Janan Mus. The 21-year-old and 206 cm tall Bosnian has reached the National Basketball Association (NBA), but he does not have his chance in the Euroleague: 3 games, an average of 3 minutes and still no points. The youngster has a chance in the Turkish league, where he shines: 25 minutes, 13.4 points and 15.2 utility points. J.Musa also has a contract for next season, so there is no doubt that he will have more minutes then.
In summary, it can be said that “Žalgiris” is currently with the rival, which is the team that shows the best basketball in the Euroleague at the moment. The last duel has been won by 30, 16 and 32 points against CSKA, Valencia and Fenerbahche respectively. Another important aspect is that Anadolu shows not only a good attack, but also a reliable defense, which was not emphasized by B. Dunston before the match, saying that the game should be based on actions against the opponents’ basket.
“Abdomen” “Anadolu” now looks like a completely different team than the one we saw 5 months ago in Kaunas, but “Žalgiris” has shown more than once this season that it is capable of challenging elite tournament teams. We will see how we do it this time on Friday starting at 7.45pm.
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