Turkish Airlines EuroLeague: Anadolu Efes Downs Olympiacos

Round 23 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague 2018-19 regular season tipped off on Thursday with four games. They ended up in a clean sweep by the home teams.

One of the more interesting clashes that took place was between two top-8 teams. Anadolu Efes played host to a club in the midst of turmoil in their domestic scene, Olympiacos. Whether or not the Greek team’s current issues found their way onto the court, the result came around to Anadolu Efes winning 75-65.

The win improved Efes’ record to 15-8 keeping their hold over fourth place in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings. Olympiacos falls to 12-11 and wind up in seventh place.

“Defense” was the name of the game in this contest. Anadolu Efes managed to gain and then keep control of the game after an early surge from Olympiacos. They were able to maintain their composure and took advantage of the disparity in turnovers. They only committed seven, compared to 14 by Olympiacos.

All five of Efes’ starters scored in double figures, led by the 13 points put up by Simon Krunoslav. On Olympiacos’ end, only Janis Strelnieks and Nikola Milutinov hit double-digit scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Thanks to this win, Anadolu Efes now holds a final tiebreaker over Olympiacos, should their records ever wind up the same at the end of the regular season.

Here are the results of the three other games played:

• CSKA Moscow 107-85 Herbalife Gran Canaria
• FC Barcelona Lassa 77-67 Kirolbet Baskonia Vitoria
• AX Armani Exchange Milano 87-83 Maccabi Tel Aviv