Speaking at the press conference held after the match, Kokoskov said, “We had an unfortunate bad match. When we look at the beginning of the match, we lost Ercan Osmani, who we could show as our most stable player, in the first 2 minutes. Then the course of the game changed suddenly. We would like what we did in training to be reflected on the field in the matches, but this time our balance was disrupted. We had to go to a very different rotation. Dozier was placed as 1, sometimes as 4. I played it. Cedi Osman played a very good game. Sloukas showed a very good performance with 12 assists. As a coach, I take full responsibility for the problems we experience in defense. When I evaluate the team in terms of preparation, I take full responsibility. We definitely didn’t give up. We have no problem quitting the fight. We had to make some adjustments during the course of the match. I congratulate Panathinaikos and Ergin Ataman. to the next match We will focus.” he said.
PANATHINAIKOS FRONT
Panathinaikos Head Coach Ergin Ataman reminded that Anadolu Efes beat Olympiakos in Greece and started this match and said, “We started with Sloukas. He was different for us too, he was one of the key players. He played with 12 assists. Cedi Osman had a great match. I can say it was a career match. We got contributions from our young players like Kalaitzakis. He showed himself in defense with his energy. When Papagiannis and Osmani left the match, we tried to play with 5 guards against 5 guards. Our guards were better and we won the match.” he said.
Speaking about the injuries of Ercan Osmani and Georgios Papagiannis in Anadolu Efes, Ataman said, “We did not lose control from the beginning of the match. We recovered with Kalaitzakis’ entry into the game, his steals and dynamism. We could have broken there, it was the breaking point. Anadolu Efes went out of order. In this type of squads, two players leaving the match does not make such a big difference, but their balance was disrupted. They started playing with different starting players. We answered: Our short players played more efficiently. Cedi Osman scored a lot of extra points. It is important to lose two players, but Efes has a very rich squad. They didn’t get much benefit from their other big men. Swider played very well two days ago, but we did not give him the opportunity to shoot. “When they did not give away the spaces in the Olympiakos match, we took their spaces.” he said.
Praising Cedi Osman’s performance, Ataman said, “Cedi is playing well in the Efes matches. I hope he will spread this throughout the season. Cedi is already in great form. He was one of the most important players of the European Championship. He played well in the last match as well. He is in top form tonight.” he said.
The experienced coach also made evaluations about the new league organization that the NBA plans to establish in Europe and said:
“There are 13 main teams in the Euroleague. Our stance is to act together. Euroleague is at a higher level than the NBA in terms of basketball quality. The NBA has a very strong marketing value. I think that a league with 20 teams, whose format will be organized by the Euroleague and whose marketing will be done by the NBA, will add value. This is not an easy thing. A few clubs among the 13 teams will leave and say ‘We will play in the NBA.’ If he does, it will be a ridiculous situation. In European basketball, it will be like the Suproleague and Euroleague of 20 years ago. I think clubs need to stand behind the Euroleague brand in a smarter way. I’m not very optimistic about this. I think it would be productive if the Euroleague organization was improved a little and there was an organization under the name of NBA Euroleague. Euroleague on one side, NBA on the other FIBA… People are already surprised by who is playing what and where. “I think this will hurt basketball.”