“First of all, we knew while coming here that Darüşşafaka Doğuş would give a strong reaction. We talked about this as a team, and worked on it. In the beginning, we unfortunately failed to organize well against their toughness. We couldn’t be as tough on defense, and we allowed 48 points in the first half. However, we started to react from the beginning of the third quarter. We balanced the game, though that wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard yet. It was the fourth quarter when we were better on offense. We got points powered by our defense with good ball movement in the half court. During this time, we got the chance to even the score, and then pull up. We played very smart especially in the final one and a half minutes of the game. My lads displayed their true character, and I would like to thank them for that. Darüşşafaka Doğuş is a high-quality team with strong roots. This win is really crucial for us. This achievement is very pleasing. After our opponent in the finals is determined, we want to win the title by taking this one last step...”

Anadolu Efes’s Birkan Batuk also stated his thoughts: “First of all, we are very happy to have reached the finals. We knew that today’s match would be extremely difficult. We predicted that Darüşşafaka Doğuş would fight back in their home court. It is true that we were unable to respond to that in the first and second quarter, but after reflecting our team talks during halftime onto the court in the second half, we were able to win this match thanks to Cedi, Heurtel and Granger’s extremely critical points in the final moments. We are now waiting for our opponent. I hope we will complete the final in a healthy manner, and win the title...”