Kameron Taylor, Matt Costello and Jaime Pradilla all excelled in their team's 10th win of the season
New go-to guys emerge as Valencia rolls past Efes
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 15 of 38
Regular Season
Valencia BasketVBC
9482
Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
Overview
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Valencia Basket continues to please its fans at Roig Arena with outstanding basketball and plenty of wins in both the EuroLeague and Spanish League.
On Thursday night, Valencia topped Anadolu Efes Istanbul 94-82, winning the opening three quarters to seal its fourth consecutive EuroLeague victory long before the final buzzer. There are plenty of bad news for its future opponents, as Valencia is not only rock-solid in general but it keeps finding new players to lead the team on any given night.
Kameron Taylor, Matt Costello and Jaime Pradilla all had either season-high or career-high efforts against Efes in Round 15. Taylor was particularly unstoppable, leading his team with 20 points, a new career high, on almost perfect shooting: 5 of 5 inside the arc, 3 of 4 from downtown and 1 of 1 from the foul line. He added 5 rebounds and a couple of steals for a PIR of 24.
Taylor poured in 16 points in a fantastic second half in which he dominated the game – attacking the rim, going strong on the defensive board and pulling the trigger from three-point range. He finished the game with a wild buzzer-beater that resembled his game-winning shot against Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spanish League action last Sunday.
"Our tempo was up. I think we were hitting shots today. Our defense was good. A lot of things were going our way with the help of the fans," Taylor said after the game. "Everything was good."
With two centers, Vincent Poirier and Kai Jones, coming off respective injuries, part of Valencia's game plan was to get Costello, Pradilla and Nate Reuvers involved around the baskets to play one-on-one against power forwards Ercan Osmani and Rolands Smits and get them into foul trouble. Costello was deadly from beyond the arc, hitting all of 4 his three-point shots on his way to a season-high 15 points off the bench. He added 5 rebounds and 1 block in just 18 minutes.
"I think we played really well. We stuck to our game plan, just kept running. We hit a lot of threes tonight. But in general, our defense was pretty good and that gave us the opportunity to run," Costello said. "We are playing really, really well at home. We just feel comfortable here in the new arena, with good fans, so it's always a good feeling to win at home."
Reuvers was Valencia's top scorer at halftime with 7 points. As many as six of his teammates had scored at least 5 points. Pradilla did a little bit of everything with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. His all-around game allowed him to set a new career high in PIR with 23. His previous career-best effort was a PIR of 17 against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan earlier this season.
Ultimately, Valencia's second-half accuracy made the difference. After the break, the hosts downed 8-of-11 two-pointers (72.7% 2FG) and 9-of-19 three-pointers (47.4% 3FG), dishing 14 assists and picking up just 5 turnovers. Coach Pedro Martinez's team seemed to be ahead of Efes's plays, finding advantages both inside and outside, and attacking them with great efficiency. Asked about his team's great second half, Martinez thought it was a little bit of everything.
"Maybe they have some injuries and were tired in the second half, and we were more in our rhythm. We have, at this moment, a longer roster than them. But I think we played a little bit better, we passed the ball much better, and we made some threes in the second half with a good percentage," Martinez said. "It's a long competition with 20 teams and we have to go step by step, knowing that every game will be very difficult for us to win. We only have to think on the next practice and the next game."
For Valencia, that next game will be against Olympiacos Piraeus on Tuesday, December 16, with a chance to improve to 11-5 in the standings.
