Ataman: 'We are not concerned about our playoff position, there is a human tragedy going on' / News - Basketnews.com

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Anadolu Efes Istanbul won their third game against their city rivals Fenerbahce Beko in their fourth outing this season and strengthened their position in the battle for the playoffs spot.

Player of the Game EFF 23 Vasilije Micic Points 24 Accuracy 7-14 Rebounds 2 Assists 3

Efes had a comfortable lead going into the 4th quarter with 11 points advantage, but it all came down to Shane Larkin'sclutch three in order to choke Fenerbahce's comeback rally from 22 points down.

"Through 32 minutes, we had controlled the game, we played good defense made good choices with the ball," Efes coach Ergin Ataman started his post-game conference.

"But perhaps because of the score differential, we got relaxed towards the end of the game, stopped to make all good decisions and turned the wrong ones, sent airballs," he continued.

During the 4th quarter, Sehmus Hazer and Dyshawn Pierre worked together to finally resolve Efes' defense, creating shots and scoring at will. Hazer finished the game with 13 points and 5 assists, while Pierre scored 19 points.

"After the game, I told my players that this was perfect until the last 8 minutes. Our style, in the end, was unacceptable to me. We spent all the credits to play like this at the beginning of the season, and we must be more careful about the next games," he remarked.

Regarding the final standings, it is still uncertain whether Russian teams will finish EuroLeague's regular season. Theoretically, Efes even have a chance to clinch the Top 4 position if CSKA, UNICS, and Zenit fail to finish the season.

But for Ergin Ataman, many things go beyond basketball at this point.

"This was a very important game for us concerning our classification on the road for playoffs.

"But the issue with Russia-Ukraine war got out of the scope of us winning or losing games. I already said the war must stop. The whole world is giving the same messages. There is a human tragedy there. The civilians are suffering, people are on the roads, trying to escape from war."

"It comes to be that if they don't solve the situation and it goes like this, Russian teams might probably not finish the season. This was what FIFA, IOC, and other organizations like F1 were doing. They got expelled.

We are not concerned about our playoffs position. I am sorry for the things happening right now, and also, I feel sorry about our colleagues, coaches, and players working in Russia. Those people who are working there don't have anything to blame.

All the people in the world are making a big effort to finish this human tragedy," Ataman concluded.

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