Ufuk Sarica: '11 days delay gave us problems against Efes' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Xinhua News Agency-Scanpix Credit Xinhua News Agency-Scanpix

Back-to-back EuroLeague title holders Anadolu Efes Istanbul keep winning as they reached the semis in the domestic Basketball Super League (BSL).

2-pointers this season

57%19,3Points made:19,3Accuracy:56,8%Place in standings:11Record max:28Record min:12Most made 2FGs:Vasilije MicicTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

In the final game of the series, Efes came over a tricky opponent, Pinar Karsiyaka, with a dominant 4th quarter and once again, with the assuring leadership of Vasilje Micic and Shane Larkinwho scored 18 points each.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate Anadolu Efes on their EuroLeague title. This is an important achievement. As a basketball person, I was also proud," commented Ufuk Sarica, head coach of Karsiyaka.

"There were two different teams set up for different purposes on the court. It is not easy to fight against Anadolu Efes, which has a large roster and a high budget," he underlined the unbalanced state of resources.

"Towards the end of the game, Larkin and Micic made important shots. But they are also very valuable players, and the budgets of almost two of them are above our team budget. They're here to make these shots. Maybe we would have had a chance if they had missed, but it didn't happen. Thank you to my players for their fight," he added.

But Ufuk Sarica, who carried Karsiyaka to the BCL final last year and led to wins against Efes this season, did not stop there to give an account of the first round series.

The delay between the 2nd and 3rd games, which was supposed to take place on the 15th of May, was on his mind.

Karsiyaka managed to beat Efes in the second game in İzmir to tie the series 1-1. But since Efes had their EuroLeague Final Four duties, the third and the final game of the series, which was supposed to take place on the 15th of May, were postponed by 11 days.

"If this match were not left to this day, maybe it would have been a different result. While matches are played all over Europe, we have waited for this game for 11 days. This also gave us problems," he lamented.

Sarica was not the only one to complain about the postponement decision. Karsiyaka published a statement stating the unfairness of such a choice by BSL.

"After we won the 2nd game and tied the series, an immediate decision was taken the midnight after the game to postpone the next game.

These created an impression that all the contingency plans were built on the expectation of a 2-0 series. What we saw with some referee decisions added to this impression. This act broke the whole idea behind playing a playoff series," the statement said.

The next opponent for Anadolu Efes in the BSL playoffs is a red-hot Galatasaray NEF. The semi-final series is going to start on Friday, the 27th.

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