Ergin Ataman on slow Efes start: 'I'd rather finish the season in first place' / News - Basketnews.com

After the win against Olympiacos, Ergin Ataman emphasized the importance of finishing the season strong instead of looking at a slow Efes start.

Credit: EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages Credit EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages

Anadolu Efes Istanbul recorded their fourth win in a row, and after the win against Olympiacos Piraeus, head coach Ergin Ataman emphasized the importance of strongly finishing the season instead of starting it.

Player of the Game EFF 31 Vasilije Micic Points 18 Accuracy 6-11 Rebounds 9 Assists 9

"Atmosphere in the team has never been bad, but the games we lost with close scores at the beginning of the season and the absence of Larkin and Beaubois negatively affected us," Ataman revealed in the post-game conference. "In the last games, it became clear how important [Rodrigue] Beaubois is. For this reason, we continued to work without panic and started playing our own game with the return of Beaubois."

"Of course, with Larkin's return, our rotation will expand. EuroLeague is a very long marathon. It is important to start well, but I would rather finish the season in the first place," added Ataman.

Anadolu Efes head coach was also pleased by his team's response in the second half, as the EuroLeague champions crawled back from a 10-point deficit.

"Of course, it was a very important game for us," Ataman said. "We didn't start the game well, we made many turnovers in the first half and gave control of the game to Olympiakos."

"We also had a hard time finding a basket because we didn't share the ball enough. After the speech in the locker room [during halftime], we improved our defense and started to share the ball more in the offense.

In the first half, we were trying to score points by using transition attacks. In the second half, we were effective in half-court possessions with more passes. That's how we took control, and Rodrigue Beaubois, Vasilije Micic, and Will Clyburn scored their points," Ataman continued.

Asked what was said during the halftime speech, Ataman revealed that he was trying to calm down his players.

"We talked about sharing the ball more and using half-court possessions," said Ataman. "We lost control [of the game] to Olympiakos due to turnovers at the beginning. After the bad start, we tried to come back as soon as possible, but it led to an increased bad shot selection.I told my players not to panic and that we could win the game."

"Maybe Krunoslav Simon's presence gave the players extra motivation," concluded Efes head coach.

Like what we are doing? You can express your gratitude here.