Efes grabs bittersweet win over Monaco, 87-72
Anadolu Efes Istanbul overcame AS Monaco 87-72 on Friday evening to end its Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season on a positive note. The back-to-back champions will miss out on the postseason after finishing 11th with a 17-17 record. Monaco dropped to 21-13, but it had already secured fourth spot and will take on Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the playoffs. The visitors bounced back after a solid Efes start, but they failed to stay close after the break and the hosts killed the game off in the last quarter to secure the victory.
Tibor Pleiss paced Efes by pairing his 21 points with 12 rebounds for a PIR of 25. Vasilije Micic and Elijah Bryant scored 12 points each, while Shane Larkin and Ante Zizic had 11 apiece. Yoan Makoundou led Monaco with a career-high 16 points and 8 rebounds. Matthew Strazel scored 14 points off the bench and Donta Hall added 11 points and 9 boards.
Game Videos
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FC Barcelona-AS Monaco | Playoffs Game 4 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:20
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Diallo's big dunk! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 02:05
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Shane Larkin: 'Big game from everybody'
- 00:13
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James finds Theis! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:10
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Blossomgame's two-handed dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens | Playoffs Game 4 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:17
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Elijah Bryant with a big three! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:28
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A monster dunk from Oturu! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens | Playoffs Game 3 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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FC Barcelona-AS Monaco | Playoffs Game 3 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:28
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A fine dunk from Oturu! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:15
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Diallo's big block! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:56
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Alpha Diallo: 'It's really hard to beat us'
- 00:27
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Monaco Showtime! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 01:15
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Mam Jaiteh: 'If we play like this defensively, we will do good'
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AS Monaco-FC Barcelona | PO Game 2 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:12
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Tarpey’s big driving dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:28
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Jaiteh’s poster dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:17
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From defense to slam-dunk offense! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:14
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Jaiteh’s diving hustle! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:07
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Diallo’s chasedown block! Motorola Magic Moment
- 02:40
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Masterpiece on the Mediterranean
- 01:34
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Shane Larkin: 'We just had to stay poised'
- 01:01
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Vincent Poirier: 'We finished until the end'
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | PO Game 2 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:32
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Larkin taking the lead for good! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 00:09
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Oturu with a mighty dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:21
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Oturu with the alley-oop! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:12
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Poirier with the put-back slam! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:08
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Poirier with a fierce small-dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:26
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Tarpey's big block! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 00:58
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Daniel Theis: 'Matthew Strazel sets the tone for our defense'
- 00:55
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Elie Okobo: 'We showed great character today'
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AS Monaco-FC Barcelona | PO Game-1 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:12
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Theis throws it down! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:11
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James turns defense into offense! Motorola Magic Moment
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Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | PO Game-1 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:16
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Larkin and Dozier conjure some magic! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:10
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Oturu with a strong dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:13
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Poirier rips the rim! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:24
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Poirier with a big dunk! Motorola Magic Moment of the Night
- 02:30
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Shane Larkin: 'We've had to win every single game to get here'
![https://media-cdn.cortextech.io/ba942191-98e0-4bac-a768-97dba111b91c.jpg]()
Anadolu Efes Istanbul-Zalgiris Kaunas | RS Round 34 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
- 00:16
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Nwora with a massive dunk! Motorola Magic Moment
- 00:56
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Mike James: 'We can celebrate a little bit'
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LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne-AS Monaco | RS Round 34 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
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The Fantasy Challenge Podcast prepares for the end of the regular season
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The EuroLeague & Friends gang are joined by Nick Calathes for episode 22
- 00:52
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Vincent Poirier: 'Really proud of the team and what we've accomplished so far'
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Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade-Anadolu Efes Istanbul | RS Round 33 Highlights | 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague
Efes hit the ground running in the first quarter, with Zizic scoring 6 of his 11 points in the first couple of minutes as the hosts raced out to a 9-0 lead. Monaco head coach Sasa Obradovic was forced to call an early timeout, and James scored from the free-throw line to end his team’s 3-minute scoreless run, 10-2. Zizic dominated in the paint, recording 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in the opening 4 minutes, 12-4. The Efes center boosted the hosts’ lead to double digits, 18-8, with a dunk, before Makoundou came off the bench to score his first points of the night and reduce the deficit, 23-16, after 10 minutes.
Monaco bounced back in the second quarter, with Elie Okobo putting his first points on the board and Jaron Blossomgame taking his tally to 5 points to bring the visitors within 23-20 in the second quarter. Then, it was time for Pleiss to step up, with the Efes big man scoring 9 points and downing 6 rebounds in less than 6 minutes on the floor. Monaco stayed close, mostly thanks to a solid Matthew Strazel display off the bench. Strazel was leading his team with 9 points, but Efes held a narrow 41-39 lead heading into halftime.
What followed after the break was a see-saw game, with Hall completing a three-point play to give Monaco its first lead in the game with 6:19 to play in the third quarter, 45-46. Yet, its lead was short-lived, as Micic sank one from behind the arc, reaching 3,000 EuroLeague points in the process and extending Efes's lead to 51-46. After three quarters of play, Efes had a 6-point advantage, 60-54, over the visitors.
Efes started strong in the last quarter and went on a 5-0 run after Larkin hit a triple to take his tally to 7 points, 67-57. Micic and Clyburn scored 4 unanswered points for Efes’s largest lead of the night at that point, 75-61, at which point the hosts began to slow down the tempo. Larkin netted a pull-up triple to put the game to bed, as Efes boosted its lead to 84-68 with less than 2 minutes to play. Despite a disappointing season, the Efes fans gave the back-to-back EuroLeague champions a standing ovation in the last seconds of the game.
