Dusan Ivkovic: “My team deserved to win the match...”

Defeating Fenerbahçe 84-82 at the 28th week match of Turkish Basketball League, Anadolu Efes coach Dusan Ivkovic stated his thoughts at the post-game press conference:

“It was a tough and challenging game. My team deserved to win the match. We held the game under control for 40 minutes. This is very positive for us on the road, under pressure. We had a nice start into the game. We read the game well, getting threes by Janning. We occasionally lost control, committing turnovers. Fenerbahçe also wanted to win it a lot. I don’t want to judge referees but they were not on a level to handle a match between Anadolu Efes, who made it to the play-off round, and Fenerbahçe, who made it to the Final Four. Today’s match was just a regular league game. We have three games left to the end of the regular season. We need to keep working. We will play against Darüşşafaka on Wednesday. Now, we need to prepare for them. As I did today morning in training, I would like to officially congratulate Fenerbahçe once more for making it to the Final Four...”

Efes’s Birkan Batuk also stated his thoughts at the press conference: “We knew it would be a challenging game today. We are back from a four-match series against Real Madrid, while Fenerbahçe advanced to the Final Four by eliminating Maccabi. I wish this would be a match between two Final Four teams. I wish Fenerbahçe the best of success. As to the match; we started well and played a good first half. Due to our turnovers in the third quarter, Fenerbahçe made a comeback. But then we recovered, acted as a team in offense, and reclaimed the lead. We managed to capitalize on critical moments. Now, we will play a critical match against Darüşşafaka, one that will shape the standings. I hope we will win, and proceed.”

Tags:
  • Fenerbahçe
  • Dusan Ivkovic