Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman made a statement after his team beat Real Madrid and made the series 2-0. Stating that they played an excellent basketball and thus broke the game in the first half, Ataman said, “This match was a very key game. We always reminded our players of the Barcelona series in 2019. The players were very well concentrated in this awareness. I congratulate them all.” said.
The statements of Ergin Ataman at the end of the match are as follows:
Once again we played excellent basketball. We lost more turnovers than we normally do at the beginning of the match. We knew that Tavares was a big missing for Real Madrid, but while he was away, they turned to a different strategy and played with a long five. Tyus, Thompkins and Garuba were on the field at the same time. We, too, had a hard time defending in episode number 3 with Thompkins. He also found threes. We also faced confusion in the offense and we lost 9 turnovers in the first half. This is the reason we couldn’t break the match in the first half.
Real Madrid returned to its classic game in the second half and tonight, unlike the other game, our guards Larkin and Micic made their shots. This made things very easy for us. Because when they take these shots, it’s hard to stop our basketball. Once again we won. Again, we found a big difference, but that doesn’t mean much because the score is only 2-0. We have to win another game and we’re going to Madrid.
This match was a very key game. We always reminded our players of the Barcelona series in 2019. There, we won the first game and lost the second game, and we lost our court advantage. Today’s match was very critical in that respect. We were going to go to Madrid either very advantageous or losing the field advantage. The players are also very well concentrated with this awareness. I congratulate them all. Although this concentration is 2-0 now, it needs to continue because our opponent is a very experienced opponent. Regardless, Real Madrid is a team that will never leave the fight mentally, even though we played better than them in these games. Therefore, we must continue to keep our concentration high. (Eurohoops)
