When Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz beat Anadolu Efes Istanbul 87-74 in a Round 20 make-up game on Tuesday, Sander Raieste was the winners' x-factor with a surprising performance.
Baskonia's Raieste rose to the moment against Efes
Raieste is a relatively unknown player for Turkish Airlines EuroLeague fans. He made his EuroLeague debut last season, averaging 0.7 points in 10 games. Raieste missed the start of the current campaign due to a knee injury but returned in late January, totaling 4 points in 31 minutes over six games. Head coach Neven Spahija had barely played him early in this game, too. Raieste had stepped on the court for the final 18 seconds of the first quarter and for just 4 seconds at the end of the third. But Raieste played the entire fourth quarter and clearly showed what he is capable of.
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In his first shot of the game, Raieste tipped in a missed shot by Alec Peters to give Baskonia a 64-61 lead. He went on to bury a corner three-pointer that boosted his team's lead to 70-64. Raieste was far from being done, though, as he struck twice again from downtown, once to give Baskonia its first double-digit lead, 78-68, and another one to seal the outcome, 85-74, in the final minute. When the dust settled, Raieste had finished the game with 11 points on perfect shooting, a couple of rebounds and a PIR of 12, earning plenty of well-deserved credit and giving Baskonia more backcourt options going forward.