Sometimes basketball is jazz, but the record-breaking four-overtime marathon between Real Madrid in Anadolu Efes Istanbul was a work of art.
Stats review: Hang it in the Prado
Stats
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It is not a secret that the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague has tremendous parity – there is a high percentage of close, competitive games every single week – but there is something truly unique when the stars align and records fall because of that competitive balance. Everything broke right for one of those moments to materialize in the last game of Round 19.
Although visiting Efes held 15th place going into Friday's finale while host Real sat comfortably atop the standings, it took the EuroLeague's last two champions to finally break the ice on games going beyond double-overtime, of which there had been 18 others over the years. Neither of these champions were about to give in, and their sheer will to continue to fight tooth-and-nail late into the evening saw numerous league records fall as Real weathered two significant runs from Efes to ultimately claim the 130-26 victory.
Real's pick-and-roll mastery
With four players combining to score 116 of their 130 points, Real had an efficient night on the offensive end. Their 30-for-39 shooting from the foul line (76.9%) covered for their 12-for-43 rate from beyond the arc (27.9%) against an Efes squad ranked last in defensive efficiency.
With Dzanan Musa scoring 40 points and Mario Hezonja adding 31, the club's young stars shined brightly, and their starting unit finished +21 in plus/minus. But it was the record 82 points that Real generated out of the pick-and-roll that ultimately helped them overcome Efes's memorable eight-man effort. On their way to the all-time EuroLeague scoring record and despite the length of the game, Madrid put together one of the most polarizing shooting games in recent history. They attempted a single long two-pointer, a spot-up jumper in the middle of the fourth quarter when Musa accidentally toed the three-point line as he looked to get it off quickly over a closeout.
Efes ruled at ends of possessions
In defeat, Efes scored only 7 points in transition compared to a record 118 points in the half-court as they repeatedly found answers against a team on pace to break several significant EuroLeague defensive records. They outscored Madrid 30-7 in possessions that went down to the last 4 seconds on the shot clock, but tallied just 17 assists as nothing was made easy for the visitors on Friday night. Shane Larkin led the way for Efes, creating 36 total shots for himself and others playing out of pick-and-rolls over his league-record 53.2 minutes on the floor.
As the graph above suggests, both teams were all over the map in terms of Synergy Shot Quality. When Efes built a nine-point lead in the second overtime, they did so on shot-making talent. Unsurprisingly, they faced an uphill battle creating quality looks deep in the game considering their short bench and tired protagonists against an elite defense. They righted the ship spectacularly in the third overtime – and, on paper, put themselves in prime position to close out the game – but did not get the bounces they needed after that at WiZink Center.
With both teams going on several runs that threatened to blow the game open but also seeing game-winners rim out, ultimately neither the league's current frontrunner nor a team that had lost five straight games would let the other pull away.
The beauty of the #EveryGameMatters hashtag is its lack of irony. This game proved as much, as the dam finally broke on the league's unrelenting competitiveness to create one of the most iconic moments in mid-season basketball history.