Joan Penarroya's men now have a 5-1 record, while the hosts dropped to 3-3
Barcelona beats Efes to stay top of the standings, 88-97
FC Barcelona registered its fifth consecutive win in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by downing Anadolu Efes Istanbul 88-97 on the road in Round 6 on Tuesday.
The Azulgrana improved to 5-1 and became the first team to win five consecutive EuroLeague games this season, while Efes dropped to 3-3. Chimezie Metu led the winners with 21 points. Kevin Punter added 20, Jabari Parker had 13 while Justin Anderson got 12 for Barca. Darius Thompson paced Efes with 16 points. Jordan Nwora added 13 while Vincent Poirier and Dan Oturu each had 10 for the hosts.
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Alex Abrines hit a triple and Parker added two more to give Barca an early 2-9 lead. Punter followed a jumper with a three-pointer to make it a double-digit game, 4-14. Poirier took over with an alley-oop slam and Bryant added a floater in a 7-0 run that Nwora capped with a driving basket. Abrines and Ercan Osmani each struck from beyond the arc and Bryant's coast-to-coast layup made Barca stop the game at 16-17. Bryant completed Efes' comeback with a three-pointer. Anderson and Nwora traded triples, Jan Vesely hit a jumper and Tomas Satoransky's three-point play restored a 22-26 Barca lead. Rolands Smits hit a jump hook, Thompson scored again and Metu's three-pointer fixed the score at 26-29 after 10 minutes.
Anderson scored off a steal early in the second quarter and Metu erased Smits's close basket with a jump hook. A red-hot Metu dunked and matched Bryant's three-point play with a bomb from downtown, good for a 32-38 Barca lead. Oturu dunked but Anderson and an unstoppable Metu kept the guests way ahead, 36-43. Rodrigue Beaubois buried a floater, Oturu dunked again and Stanley Johnson brought Efes within 42-43. Smits ignited the crowd with a dunk and Thompson added a triple but Parker single-handedly kept Barca in charge, 47-48. Smits sank another jump hook, Willy Hernangomez scored in the paint and Punter followed that with a huge buzzer-beating three-pointer that gave Barca a 51-55 edge at the break.
Juan Nunez struck from beyond the arc and found Hernangomez for a jumper that gave Barca a 51-60 lead. Parker scored in the low post, Poirier answered with a huge dunk and Hernangomez gave the guests a 53-65 edge. Poirier dunked again, Parker erased that with a jumper off the dribble, then Beaubois's driving layup gave Efes hope at 58-67. Punter and Beaubois each struck from beyond the arc and Metu's big basket off the dribble restored a 62-73 Barca lead. Bryant tried to change things for Efes, Metu shocked the crowd with an acrobatic three-point play and Nwora's floater kept the hosts within 66-76 after 30 minutes.
Anderson finished a three-chance Barca offense with a baseline jumper and Vesely added a put-back slam for a 66-80 margin with over 7 minutes left. Nwora buried a jumper that an unstoppable Anderson improved with a bomb from downtown. Oturu scored in penetration, Nwora added consecutive driving layups, and Dogus Ozdemiroglou hit a corner triple to give Efes hope at 77-86. Nunez somehow found Punter for a layup, getting help from Matu to stop Efes' comeback, 79-91. Thompson buried a three-pointer, Parker scored around the basket and Abrines sealed the outcome from the foul line, as Efes had ran out of chances in the final 2 minutes.