Anadolu Efes lost 86-64 to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the 28th week of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, and head coach Ergin Ataman shared his views after the game as follows:
"It was a very important game for us. In normal times, three of our players should not have been on the court due to injuries. We took a gamble by playing them and we lost. Our defense did not work, Maccabi PLaytika Tel Aviv also had a big advantage in the first quarter. We tried to come back to the game in the second half. But after falling back 25 points, it is very difficult to achieve. It was a bad loss for us but as I said Micic, Larkin and Beaubois’s injuries cost us hugely at this time of the season. Micic has not been training with the team for five weeks. Actually, he hasn't been in the game today. However, last night, I asked him because the match was very important, and he said, 'I don't want to play without training.' He said that, but he did not offend us. But unfortunately, he is not ready at all. Larkin was hospitalized on Monday with suspected appendicitis. After two days of hospitalization, the operation was abandoned at the last minute, antibiotic treatment was applied. He was discharged on Thursday. He did not come with us to the Red Star match anyway. Beaubois had a very serious ankle injury in the last 4-5 minutes of the Red Star match, but he also stated that he wanted to play due to the importance of the match, but the injury relapsed in the first half, making it even more serious. I don't know right now, Micic has been working for 5 weeks himself, but he has a problem with his knees. We expect him to play every week, but he can't get to that level. The biggest surprise for us, of course, was Larkin's appendicitis at the beginning of the week. As such, Elijah and Clyburn were also abnormal. We have two very important games next week. We are in the play-offs right now. We are not completely far away, we have four more home games. However, we asked the Turkish Basketball Federation to postpone the league game on Sunday. They also did not accept. On Sunday, we will play a league match with Bahçeşehir Koleji. Then on Tuesday, we will play a postponement match with Real Madrid, then there is the Partizan match. Frankly, I don't know what kind of squad we will play in those games at the moment."