Answering the questions of the members of the press after the match, Ataman stated that it was even more meaningful to win this cup by beating their most important rivals, Fenerbahçe, and said:
“We played a very good basketball, especially in the first half of the match. Today we started the game with 3 new foreign players, we made our choice in favor of them. In the first half of the match, we played an excellent offensive and defensive game. In the second half, we hesitated a bit, especially Fenerbahce’s tall players got into the foul problem, they played more than 5 shorts, it changed the tempo of the match. We made a mistake there, but generally the match was already under our control. We are ready for the season. Of course, we have players on the side that we couldn’t play today. With Shane Larkin joining, we will start the Europa League with the same goal again “It is a good morale boost for us to start the season with a meaningful trophy like the President’s Cup. Of course, only one game. Fenerbahçe is a new team, a new coach. They also fought very well, but we believe that we are the side that dominates the game and deserves the match. I’m thinking.”
“THE GOAL OF ALL TEAMS IS TO OVERCOME US”
Ergin Ataman reminded that they were the champions of the last two seasons in the THY Europa League and stated that all teams formed important squads to surpass themselves.
Reminding that he won this cup for the 8th time in his career, Ataman continued his words as follows:
“It’s 8, I can’t count it either, but 2 is left in double digits. I hope I will have the title of the first and only coach to reach double digits in this cup in my career. I am the players who actually won the cup. We have a good team. Our management continues to keep this team in this way with great sacrifice. “We are one of the best teams in Europe. We are not only the team of Efes fans, but also the team of Turkey. We are the champions of the Europa League for the last two seasons. The Europa League will start next week and I think we will play our games in Istanbul, especially to sell-out. We have a great responsibility on us. In history. “For the first time, we will work for a team to become the champion of the Europa League for the 3rd time in a row. The transfer record was broken in Europe this season, big transfers were made. The only goal of all teams is to beat us. Our team does not intend to be surpassed, either.”
Providing information about the injured Shane Larkin, Ataman said, “Larkin played injured and injured in the European Basketball Championship. He had an operation in the USA. We expect him to start working with the ball after 8 weeks. I think he will miss 10-12 games in the first part of the European League. He’s also a very hardworking player, he’ll be back in shape.” he concluded by saying.