Paris (AFP)
The Turkish ogre was right about Villeurbanne. Asvel lost heavily (101-74) Friday in Istanbul against Anadolu Efes, in a meeting completely dominated by the Turkish team, leader of the Euroleague basketball ranking.
Asvel points to 11th place in the Euroleague, just two wins from eighth place, synonymous with qualification for the play-offs.
But Villeurbane's dreams of qualifying remain complicated due to a difficult calendar (6 receptions for 8 trips).
Deprived of the French Charles Kahudi and Edwin Jackson, injured respectively in an ankle and a knee, and its trainer Zvezdan Mitrovic, weakened by a flu-like state, the Rhone formation records a twelfth defeat in twenty meetings in Euroleague.
In the Istanbul lair, heated by a crowded public, the club of Tony Parker showed a disturbing defensive feverishness, bending under the blue surge, without ever seeming capable of worrying the Turkish club.
Worn by a thundering Shane Larkin (29 pts, 6 rebounds, 7 assists) ovationated at the end of the game, the Efes crushed the defense of Villeurbanne from the first moments, scoring nearly 35 points in the first quarter (35 -22).
Despite the performance of the French Amine Noua and Livio Jean-Charles, authors of 16 pts and 12 pts respectively, the Rhone club could not return to the score, exceeded defensively. Worse, the gap has continued to grow, reaching 27 points at the end of the game.
After a fourth straight defeat in the competition, Villeurbanne will try to reverse the trend on Friday during his trip to Athens on the floor of Panathinaikos, sixth in the general classification.
For its part, Efes consolidates its leading position with a seventeenth victory in 20 games. The Istanbul club will move on Friday to the floor of Real Madrid, solid second in the competition (15 wins for 5 losses).
© 2020 AFP