Real Madrid has been the best rebounding team in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, but Anadolu Efes Istanbul survived early dominance by Los Blancos on the glass before doing the damage of its own that helped Efes edge its way to a 57-58 championship game win.
It took a team effort for Efes to win the battle on the glass
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Before the championship game, Efes guard Shane Larkin spoke about one key to the game: "I think it is going to be big for us to get the rebounds," Larkin pointed out. "It will take all of us, a team effort to get the rebounds and focus on the defensive side of the ball."
Efes did not get off to a good start on the boards. Walter Tavares dominated with 6 offensive boards in the first quarter alone. He finished with 8 offensive rebounds for the game, tying the all-time single-game Final Four record for offensive rebounds.
However, Efes did not allow Real to keep that edge, and eventually won the battle on the boards. And just like Larkin predicted, it took a team effort.
Five different Efes players had 6 or more rebounds, led by Elijah Bryant's 8. Chris Singleton and Tibor Pleiss grabbed 7 apiece and Shane Larkin and Adrien Moerman each had 6.
When the final buzzer sounded, Efes outrebounded Real for the game 40-44 - and 8-13 in the fourth quarter alone. Real finished with 18 offensive rebounds, which was 1 shy of the Final Four record, but Efes had 5 of its 11 in the fourth quarter, including a tip-in from Pleiss with 1:05 to go to make it 55-58 and Efes held on to defend its EuroLeague crown.