Ataman: “We’ve played the right basketball…”

Defeating Real Madrid team 90-63 in the 1st-playoff match of Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman stated his thoughts post-game:

"I must say that, other than the first two minutes of the match, our team’s defensive game was fantastic. We’ve toughened their chances of pick&roll and controlled the painted area. We’ve stopped their shots after picks. Pressed their point guards in the second half, and we’ve taken the control of the game. They’ve lost their balance in their offensive game, we’ve controlled their rebounds. Even though we didn’t score high points through our offensive game, but we’ve played the right basketball. Larkin and Micic were under their percentage, but Dunston, Sertaç, and Moerman contributed very well. Beaubois and Simon played their usual game. We were able to control the game from the third quarter and won the match with our increasing self-confidence. But we are in Euroleague playoffs, the difference doesn’t have importance. We’ve performed our strategy successfully and we’ve only won one match. We must perform a new strategy and a new game on Thursday. Especially, Larkin’s press on Laprovittola in the second half was crucial.”

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  • real madrid