Ataman: “Our energy was low at the beginning of the match…”

Defeating Zalgiris Kaunas 96-91 in the 24th-week match of Turkish Airlines Euroleague game, and raising the longest victory series to 9 matches, Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman stated his thoughts post-game:

"My deepest and sincere condolences for those who lost their lives in the avalanche disaster in Van and plane accident in Istanbul. I’ve heard that Nur Gencer, who served the Turkish Basketball for long years have lost their lives after the match. My condolences to her family. About the match, we already knew it was going to be tough. This was our 4th match in the last 7 days, we’ve played 4 matches with 3 Euroleague matches in total. After a tough CSKA Moscow match, we came to Istanbul last night. Our energy was low at the beginning of the match, though Zalgiris came and began with self-confidence after defeating Olympiacos with a 25-point difference. They’ve scored with high percentages and defended aggressively. We’ve managed to keep up in the game, the third quarter started the same way. As I’ve learned after the match this was Zalgiris’s highest three-pointer scoring match with 19 three-pointers today. Therefore, it was tough for us because our Zalgiris analysis didn’t create an expectation for that high three-pointer percentage. They were amazing on three-pointers tonight. We’ve changed our strategy after Zalgiris raised the score difference to 7-8 points. We’ve called our most scoring players Micic and Pleiss to the bench and prioritize defense. Team, then, reacted positively and toughened the defense. We’ve managed to score with Larkin. This was the key to our victory. I congratulate Zalgiris, they played an amazing match.”

Tags:
  • Zalgiris Kaunas
  • Ergin Ataman