The Turkish side secured an impressive Round 1 win in Bologna
Everything is heading in the right direction for resurgent Efes
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Regular Season
Round 1 of 34
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul managed to do something on Friday night that it had not done in years. On the road at Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Tomislav Mijatovic's men came away with a 67-76 triumph, bringing an end to a couple of streaks in the process.
Those 67 points are the fewest Efes has allowed in a road win since December 2022, a 60-86 win in Kaunas, and its Round 1 triumph represents the first time Efes won a season opener on the road since 2018.
Obviously, the victory came behind its defense, which did not allow Virtus to score more than 16 points in any of the last three quarters.
"We gave up a few offensive rebounds, a couple of turnovers, but we got the job done," said Dan Oturu, who paced Efes with 14 points and 9 rebounds.
Efes had 13 turnovers, but it forced 18. Also, Efes had 10 offensive rebounds to just 7 from Virtus.
So, while Efes's juggernaut offense might have left a little to be desired, its defense was stellar. After all, Virtus was restricted to 48.5% two-point shooting and made just 5 threes on 20 attempts (25.0%).
That seems like a recipe Efes that Coach Mijatovic would like to see on display on a nightly basis going forward.
"I am not going to say we need to improve; we need to maintain the rebounding presence, maintain the tips, deflections, aggressiveness on defense, get steals," Mijatovic stated in his post-game interview. "Those are the things that get easy points for us, get us in a good rhythm, good momentum."
What really jumped out is that Efes left Will Clyburn, who spent the last two seasons playing for the Turkish side, scoreless in 18 minutes of action. That's just the third time Clyburn has been held scoreless in his 220 EuroLeague appearances, with the last time coming in the third-place game at the 2021 Final Four. The only time it happened in a regular-season game was in March 2018.
"We said that we are playing against one of the most experienced and the most dangerous offensive teams in Europe," Mijatovic explained when asked about stopping Clyburn, and also holding Marco Belinelli to 7 points.
"We know Will very much, and we know Marco [Belinelli] throughout his career. Those guys are super dangerous. And it does not take one person; it is a collective effort and you need to work on it. Okay, you got to be a little bit lucky at certain times because in basketball you need a little bit of luck.
"It is not going to happen often in the future that Will be kept to a low scoring average. He is a great player, one of the best in modern EuroLeague history, the same as Marco. I think our team collective sacrifice and effort resulted in a great performance and a great victory like this one."
On the other hand, Mijatovic was very happy to see Shane Larkin in action for the first time this season. Larkin missed the entire preseason due to a knock and did not feature in the Turkish Super Cup over the weekend, meaning he had to shake off a bit of rust in Bologna.
"I've been on the court with the team for five days, I am feeling okay," Larkin said afterward. "Not great yet, but day by day I'll get better and a win is a win. I am glad we got that tonight."
Larkin came off the bench and finished with 11 points on 3-for-6 three-point shooting, as well as dishing 5 assists. He showed how he still retains the clutch gene midway through the fourth quarter, too, hitting back-to-back triples to cap a 2-15 run and open a 10-point Efes lead.
"We stayed together, made the big plays when we needed to. Key stops, key blocks, key offensive rebounds, key threes. That's what it is all about," Larkin added.
The last time Efes won its EuroLeague opener on the road, it was Larkin's first EuroLeague game in Efes uniform.
"Playing on the road in the EuroLeague is extremely difficult. So, to come here and get a win in the first week of the season is great for our team."