Here are some interesting notes about the Final Four semifinal game between Olympiacos Piraeus and Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
Game Notes, Semifinal, Olympiacos vs. Efes
· Efes and Olympiacos are tied at 22-22 in their EuroLeague games this century.
· They last played in Round 26 when Kostas Sloukas hit a buzzer-beating corner three-pointer to lift Olympiacos to an 87-85 overtime win. Sloukas had 23 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds in that game.
· Before the Round 26 overtime loss, Efes had won five straight games against Efes, including an 88-69 triumph in Round 10 in which Rodrigue Beaubois netted a career-high 29 points on a career-best 7 three-point shots made.
· When the two teams met in Istanbul in March 2020, Shane Larkin earned his record-tying sixth MVP of the Round honor in a single season. In a 91-79 win, Larkin scored 40 points, becoming the first player this century with two 40-point games to his name, while also tying the EuroLeague single-game mark by downing 10 of 15 attempts from long distance. He also collected 5 assists, 3 steals and 3 rebounds, accumulating a performance index rating of 44.
· These teams contested a thrilling playoff series in the 2016-17 season. Efes took a 2-1 lead, but Olympiacos bounced back to win 3-2 and advance to the Final Four. The decisive fifth game saw Vassilis Spanoulis score 22 points in an 87-78 victory.
· Olympiacos and Efes battled for a Final Four spot in the 2013 playoffs, too. Efes had a 15-point lead in do-or-die Game 5, but Olympiacos came back, won the series and went on to lift the trophy.
· The Efes single-game record for blocks is 6, which Marcus Haislip set against Olympiacos Piraeus on January 17, 2007.
· The Efes single-game record for three-pointers made is 10, which Shane Larkin tied against Olympiacos Piraeus on March 6, 2020.
· Last season in Istanbul, Shane Larkin had 21 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds for a PIR 32, which earned him MVP of the Round honors in a 76-53 win over Olympiacos.
· Efes forward Adrien Moerman and Olympiacos forward Sasha Vezenkov were teammates at FC Barcelona during the 2017-18 season.
· Efes big man Bryant Dunston played two seasons at Olympiacos, from 2013 to 2015, and in both seasons was chosen the EuroLeague Best Defender. He was a teammate of current Olympiacos players Georgios Printezis and Kostas Sloukas and played under head coach Georgios Bartzokas.
· Dunston was a teammate of Sloukas also at Aris Thessaloniki during the 2010-11 season.
· Efes forward James Anderson played under Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas at Khimki Moscow Region during the 2017-18 season.
· Olympiacos guard Tyler Dorsey and Efes's Elijah Bryant were teammates at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv for two seasons, from 2019 to 2021.
· Efes guard Vasilije Micic dished a career-high 13 assists in an overtime loss against Olympiacos in Round 26 this season.
· Efes guard Elijah Bryant collected a career-high 3 steals in a Round 26 loss against Olympiacos.
· Olympiacos big man Livio Jean-Charles twice tied his career-high with 3 blocks playing for LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne against Efes, first in November 2019, and again in October 2020.
· Olympiacos guard Giannoulis Larentzakis delivered a career-high with 8 assists in a road loss against Efes last February.
· Olympiacos big man Hassan Martin had a career-best 3 blocks in a loss against Efes in October 2020.
· Dunston tied his career-high in offensive rebounds with 8 in Game 4 of the 2017 EuroLeague Playoffs, which Olympiacos won in Istanbul 62-74.
· Krunoslav Simon of Efes had a career-high 4 steals against Olympiacos in December of last season.
· Efes center Tibor Pleiss matched his career-best with 4 blocks playing for Valencia Basket against Olympiacos in November 2017.