Micic MVP again
Vaso, Vaso, Vaso! Serbia can be as proud of the historical evening of the best European basketball player. The whole hall, except for a few hundred Real fans, chanted from the heart: “MVP, MVP, MVP”. Not that he deserved all this, he is a man who will remain inscribed in golden letters in the history of the biggest Istanbul club. Micic is the man who directly and most concretely influenced to win (so far) both cups of the club champion of the Old Continent. The brilliant Vasilije Micic put the championship stamp on the second consecutive crown for Efes – 58:57 (15:14, 19:15, 8:11, 18:15).
This year’s finals will not be remembered for an efficient game, moreover. We have watched the game with the fewest points since Olympiacos’ feat in 2012. Then Georgios Printezis hit that epic shot for the trophy when the result was 62:61. In terms of the total number of points, only the duel for the title in 1998 had fewer points since the champion decided in one match. Kinder defeated AEK in Blaugrana at 58:44.
Pleiss played a great match
Micic’s signature on this victory is priceless, but Tibor Pleiss, who played the second half of his dreams, deserves all the praise. After allowing Tavares to “educate” him in the first quarter, he learned lessons and made an enormous contribution. He scored 17 points and four rebounds below, a total of 19 points and seven rebounds. Shane Larkin remained at ten points from the first half. He can thank Micic for commanding the game in the continuation. Real might even win the tournament given how long it has threatened and been alive. The following information confirms that Efes was completely dependent on Micic and Pleiss. Only Bryant Dunston and Chris Singleton have joined the list of scorers …
Tavares only had a double-digit performance at Real
Real was very disappointed. Tavares did dominate in the first quarter, but then stopped. In the end, he never managed to catch the rhythm. In the end, he scored 14 points and 11 rebounds. He was the only Blancos player with a double-digit performance ?! Sergio Llull completely failed with nine points (3/10 FG), Fabien Causeur and Alberto Abalde did not hit any of five shots for three, and Rudy Fernandez remained at 1/7 FG.
The weight of the crown was already felt in the initial segments of the finals, regardless of the fact that these are two champion teams. Not through lost possessions and some cardinal mistakes, but failures. And that was more in line with Real. In the opening 20 minutes, there were only three players on the floor – Tavares on one side, and Micic and Larkin on the other. The giant center made a show in the first section. He drove the defense of Efes crazy, which did not know how to stop it, even though Pleiss was an adequate solution for him. Not the quality of the defense.
Great comeback for Efes
The start of the second half looked demoralizing for last year’s champion. He didn’t score a basket for five minutes, and Hanga took the Blancos to 40:31 with a three-pointer from eight meters. Pleiss made Efes move with five consecutive points, including three. After that, Micic took over the responsibility with top passes and penalties. The match went back to square one. Larkin remained vague, and Pleiss grew into the X factor of the game by the end.
With 17 points in the second half, he pushed Efes towards the second consecutive title. He allowed Micic to feel again that he really has the support of at least one other side. While the Serbian mastermind danced on the floor, the German center did absolutely everything so that the “waste” would come straight into his hands and soon go to the right place. They established a champion connection that brought Efes another tied European title!