Ataman: “We Guaranteed Our First Goal, Play-offs, Congratulations to My Team…”

After beating Alba Berlin 87-77 in the 33rd week of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman shared his thoughts after the game:

"Before the game today, frankly, we knew that Alba Berlin would cause us problems. Because they had won 8 of the last 10 games. We started the game badly, we were down 15 points. We could not find points from our scorers such as Larkin and Simon. After falling back 15 points, we increased our defensive aggression. We found easy points in the transition and closed the gap. During this time, Larkin also found his rhythm, especially on offense… He started to score the points he normally would. We made a switch in the matchups in the second half and started defending Maodo Lo with Elijah. As a leader towards the end of the game, Larkin took charge and played his own game, making an excellent contribution with both assists and points. Elijah contributed very well, both offensively and defensively, at the moments where Larkin was tired tonight. In addition to these two players, our other players, especially Dunston and Singleton, played very well in defense. And at the end of the match, we knew he had won. We have secured our first goal, the play-off, congratulations to my team.”