Ataman bashes EuroLeague for its statement, reveals he received a threat / News - Basketnews.com

Ataman attacked the EuroLeague for their statement that singled him out for disrespecting the game. He revealed he received a threat from a Maccabi staff member and said he received a report from EuroLeague officiating about the calls.

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

After Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens lost Game 1 of the quarterfinal series against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, PAO's head coach Ergin Ataman made a series of statements against the game's referees. He pushed back against the EuroLeague's decision to make a statement about it.

Player of the Game EFF 18 Josh Nebo Points 12 Accuracy 4-6 Rebounds 8 Assists 0

After starting the post-game press conference following Game 2 victory on a quite mellow note, Ataman got heated after hearing a question about the statement the EuroLeague released on Thursday, saying disciplinary procedures have been started against the coach.

The Turkish specialist issued a lengthy rant about the entire situation, bashing the EuroLeague organization and revealing he received a threatening comment from a member of the Maccabi staff.

Ataman's full statement:

Have you seen before a statement about some federations against a coach because he was critical? You are the journalists, you follow many sports, football, volleyball. I am a coach, I am a human. If somebody makes a mistake, it's my job to communicate and inform the people about the mistake. I'm not an underground person, I'm straight. Sometimes, I'm straight publicly against my players, sometimes, I'm straight against my club. Sometimes, against myself, publicly because we're in a public job.

I'm not underground to talk with people on my phone, to talk with the referees. For me, these referee calls were not good. I must show to the people, to you guys, journalists, why I say that I'm not happy with the officiating and the bad calls. This is what I did, and I know that there is a penalty for this in the EuroLeague regulations. I know about this, and I'm ready to pay this penalty. It's very strange that one of the great organizations that I always protect made a statement against me that I damaged the EuroLeague image. Very strange.

Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens / Schedule

Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv87-91 Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv95-79 Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv Panathinaikos AKTOR AthensTue16:00 Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens05-0217:45

If I did something wrong, ok, it's in the book. I talked about the referees, there's a penalty, why do you make a statement against me? Why do you provoke some people against me? Now what happened? Somebody there when I went to the locker room, somebody from Maccabi staff, I don't know who it was, he was without the accreditation, told me, 'We'll see in Israel, we'll see what Zionists will do to you.' Come on, I'm Ergin Ataman, I'm the coach of Panathinaikos, I'm the coach of the Turkish national team, I'm a Turkish citizen, you cannot do anything to me!

Please, EuroLeague, you can punish me, but why do you make a statement against me? Why? Ok, the club made one statement against the EuroLeague. Ok, they can make a statement against a club. I wasn't critical of the EuroLeague organization. I just criticized the referees' calls. If something happens in the future, I'll be critical of the Greek referees' calls. If there is some punishment, penalty, ok. But why a statement against me from the Euroleague?

I'm not a casual person. I'm coaching in the EuroLeague for more than 15 years, I won two EuroLeague championships. I'm a EuroLeague back-to-back champions' coach. I've coached for more than 300 games in the EuroLeague. I'm not stupid. I just shared my opinion with the Greek journalist because people want to know why I'm furious about the calls. Then, the EuroLeague Officiating sent me an opinion about all of this. I have it, but I will not share it with you. But I'm also waiting for them to share it with you, with the public.

When I saw their opinion, they accepted many, many incorrect calls [both] for us and them. But I'm asking - what about the referees? Next game, these referees will be on the court again. This is my opinion. This summer, when I was in the hospital for 10 days, they called me from the EuroLeague advertising for EuroLeague TV. They told me, 'Coach Ataman, please come, you're a very important person for the EuroLeague.' I go there, I am there for five seconds, five seconds. I left my team here, I was sick for 10 days in the hospital, everybody knows that I went there after two days. I respect the EuroLeague, I expect that all people respect me. Punishment because I talked about the referees, a penalty? Ok. What I made was coordinated with President Giannakopoulos. I don't do anything by myself. That's all.

After he ended his lengthy rant, Ataman wanted to further clarify his position regarding the referees.

"I didn't say any bad words about the referees [themselves], I didn't attack the referees like it happens in some games, some coaches, some players. I didn't attack the referees, I didn't hit anybody on the court. Even after the game, I didn't go to the referees to say something. After I watched the game at home all night, I saw that there were many, many, many crucial mistakes, and I shared with the people who are interested," Ataman said.

Finally, the coach decided to address the threat he received one more time.

"For the people who provoke against me, against Israel and zionists, I'm not a political man, I respect the Maccabi club, mister Mizrahi. I'm a sports man, I'm coming from Turkey, but what Ataturk said, peace for my country, peace for the world. I'm with peace, that's all," the coach said.

"I believe that the Maccabi doesn't care about these things. If you want to make some comment about me, [then] I'm also waiting for the Russian teams in the EuroLeague because sports in Russia don't have anything to do with the war. Like Maccabi, they don't have anything [to do with it]. I'm not against any country, I'm not against Maccabi club," the coach concluded.

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