Ergin Ataman after the loss in Game 2: 'The quality of the game was terrible' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: IMAGO/Seskim Photo - Scanpix Credit IMAGO/Seskim Photo - Scanpix

Ergin Ataman wasn't happy with the quality of the game overall. In the post-game conference, the Turkish head coach stated, just like he did after Game 1, that his team didn't play with their own style.

Player of the Game EFF 27 Sergio Rodriguez Points 17 Accuracy 6-10 Rebounds 5 Assists 5

"The hustle of the game was very good, but the quality was terrible," coach Ataman confessed. "I think that the two teams missed many shots on both ends, sometimes easy ones too. We didn't have enough from our offense, we scored only 66 points. That's not our style."

"Shields did a great job down the stretch, and we couldn't stop him," Ataman continued. "Unfortunately, they played better than us in the last 2-3 minutes. They deserved to play in these playoffs until the very end".

Anadolu Efes' coach believed that his guys weren't smart enough in the game, especially down the stretch.

"We were up by 4 points in the last few minutes, and we didn't do a good job to protect that lead. I think that we didn't play smart at the end. But I'm sure that in Istanbul we'll do a better job. But we have to be more intelligent, we cannot make the same mistakes," coach Ataman added.

Speaking of coming back to Istanbul, Ataman was also sure that the Turkish crowd will be even more electric than the one in Milan.

"Great atmosphere. Now they'll see Istanbul's atmosphere. It will be much better than this. Milan played great in the last two minutes, we made many mistakes. Good atmosphere, but we'll double-triple it in Istanbul," Ataman said while talking to EuroLeague TV.

Vasilije Micic left the game right before the end due to what looked like a sprained ankle, and coach Ataman gave a quick update about his situation.

"Micic's injury shouldn't be a serious one, we'll see tomorrow. The doctors didn't tell me anything yet. We'll see after the tests, but it didn't look like a serious injury to me, not serious as the ones that Milan had," Ataman concluded.

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