The foul that never came: Efes and Real players reflect on a controversial decision / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Pau Barrena/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Pau Barrena/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Real Madrid's decision not to make a foul in order for them to have the last possession is a dominating topic after EuroLeague's final game.

3-pointers this season

35%9,6Points made:9,6Accuracy:35,3%Place in standings:3Record max:18Record min:1Most made 3FGs:Sergio LlullTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

Sergio Llull scored a two-point bucket with 45 seconds to play in the final, and the teams were separated by only 1 point (57-58).

Real decided to use two spare team fouls left at their disposal. Guerschon Yabusele used the fourth team foul on Vasilije Micic, and Anadolu Efes had at their disposal 14 of the remaining 17.2 seconds left on the game clock.

Micic got the ball and dribbled for eight seconds before passing to Shane Larkin for a corner three. The ball bounced off the rim, but Chris Singleton jumped higher than everyone else, making sure that Efes would successfully defend their title.

Real Madrid opted for a 'clean' defense that didn't pay off. The ten-time champions had spent their four fouls earlier, and the next one would send Efes players to the free-throw line.

However, without being able to steal the ball, Los Blancos were reduced to watching their opponents run down the clock until the game was over.

"Should we foul, shouldn't we foul?" coach Pablo Laso asked himself about the last play, as the Basque coach admitted post-game.

"We didn't get the rebound. I think if we got the rebound, we could have had the last shot. But we couldn't get a clean rebound," Laso spoke with EuroLeague TV.

"We were one point down, and it was a difficult moment for us to decide," Laso explained. "Now, after we lost, it's true - we should've fouled. I thought that with time remaining, more than 3 seconds, we could have defended it and get the last possession."

In that possession, they played very smart. They got a 3-pointer, they missed it, but we couldn't get a clean rebound, and we couldn't get a basket. If you are asking me now if we should have fouled? We should've fouled," Laso said.

Real Madrid / Schedule

FC Barcelona Real Madrid83-86 Real Madrid Anadolu Efes Istanbul57-58

"We wanted to play defense, straight-up. It didn't work out for us because the ball bounced too hard, and we didn't have enough time to try a long-distance shot," forward Adam Hanga told BasketNews.

Vincent Poirier said his team had made two fouls before the last play by Micic and Larkin, and that was what they were told to.

"The goal was to defend and make a stop and then run in transition and score a basket. If they went to the free-throw line, things would have been tough," the French big man said to BasketNews.

"Had there been an order from the bench, we would have fouled, for sure," Guerschon Yabusele added.

"We played the game, they shot the ball and missed. Then, we lost the rebound, and the game was over. "

The French forward thinks that the game can't be judged on how the last play went.

"It's about the things that happened before and many shots that we missed," Yabusele said.

However, in the post-game press conference, Laso admitted that he should have signaled for the foul.

Real Madrid's decision not to foul didn't come as a surprise to Efes players.

Chris Singleton, who tipped the ball away after Larkin's shot, was clear talking to BasketNews.

"No, I didn't expect them to foul. I actually heard Pablo Laso screaming, 'don't foul!'. After they got into the bonus, he said not to foul anymore."

"But we did what we were supposed to. This year, there were many times that we let the other team get the ball back," the former NBAer said.

Bryant Dunston provided another explanation for Real not stopping the clock.

"I know that at the end of the game, they have Sergio Llull, who makes amazing shots. I think Rudy Fernandez was out there too. They make a lot of big plays, and they probably trusted their defense because they had made a stop earlier.

Three or four seconds are enough to go down in a Final Four. That was their coach's decision, and they had to trust him because he's a great coach."

Credit Pau Barrena/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Shane Larkin, who had the chance to make it a four-point game and essentially hand the win to his team, didn't expect Real to foul either.

"It's a tough situation because if you don't run the clock down and shoot an early three, they will have an opportunity. But Vasa played it perfectly. It was a difficult decision. Maybe they will look back at it and say they probably should have fouled, but it's a good thing they didn't," the American star guard conceded.

Tibor Pleiss, who scored 17 of his total 19 points in the second half, admits he can't remember the last 17 seconds of the game.

"I mean, they had a chance, and they didn't take it. That was probably their philosophy, they chose not to foul. It wasn't my decision, anyway," the German center said to BasketNews, shrugging his shoulders.

Like what we are doing? You can express your gratitude here.