Anadolu Efes was able to survive a close-fought battle in Istanbul to secure a 75-70 win over Olimpia Milano in the EuroLeague quarter-finals best-of-five series.
Following their second consecutive win over the Italian side, the reigning champions will defend their title advancing to the 2022 Final-4, which will take place in Belgrade.
Both teams fought hard for the win, and they were close for most of the Thursday’s contest. However, Efes was better at the end making all the crucial plays to run away with a huge win.
Tibor Pleiss sparked the home side offensively with 25 points, six rebounds and a PIR of 37, which was a career-high for the veteran center. Vasilije Micic followed him with 20 points to push their team to win.
With Pleiss making a two-pointer, Efes sparked a 10-2 run in the last five minutes of the game to finish off the series as Milan struggled to score the ball in the clutch time.
Luigi Datome did everything he could for the undermanned Milan with 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting on 2-point attempts. Kyle Hines posted 10 points and 12 rebounds in the loss.
Milan shot only six free throws, while, Efes had 21 makes in 25 attempts from the stripe, while they forced 13 turnovers. The visitors allowed Efes to shoot 68 percent in two-pointers, while they only succumbed their opponents to nine turnovers.
Efes will play the winner of the Olympiacos-Monaco series in the 2022 Final-4, which will take place between 19-21 May.
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