Coach Can, Turk Telekom: 'It is an important win'

Turk Telekom Ankara head coach Erdem Can:
"First of all, it is great winning on the road, because we know London Lions has a good roster and a very good coaching staff. They know what they are doing. It was important that they had a great home crowd over here. Plus, in advance, I would like to thank the Turkish population over here. They were at the gym and supporting us great. Again, I said right after the game that the days we have been through as Turkiye, after this earthquake, were tough, so whatever we do by representing our country, any success is going to be a great honor for us because we want to honor the people that we lost, that is the first thing. I think we at least secured the third position, but we still have a game against Buducnost next week. We have to win that and secure the second spot, and then we will see, we will go from there."
London Lions head coach Ryan Schmidt:
"It is tough to lose a game like that. I thought our guys really battled, but I give credit to Turk Telekom, I think they are a really good team, they are where they are in the standings for a reason: a lot of talent, very well-coached, getting it done in both sides of the ball. I think we did a lot of good things to get ourselves a chance. I think there were two moments, specifically, one in each half, in which the game could have gone out of handle a little bit but I think we resolved it really well. We challenged our wings and our guard to be better when it comes to rebounding the basketball but obviously, the stats sheet says that they had 18, and I think they got more than that, offensive rebounds. It is going to be tough to win any ball game when you are giving up 18 offensive rebounds. We gave them 11 points at the free-throw line, which is tough. I told those guys in the locker room it is a tough loss, but I think there are a lot of good things that we can take from that game, competing with a team like that down to the wire is something we can kind of carry forward and hopefully, continue to play good basketball. But at the same time, we need to clean those little things as we get closer and closer to playoff time."
Turk Telekom Ankara forward Axel Bouteille:
"I think I missed some shots in the first half, at the start of the game. In the second half, I started making shots, helping the team, helping defensively. I am happy that we were here in a good atmosphere and a good crowd, it was nice for our team. We just have to take care of the last game now, think about this one and then be ready for the playoffs, because we know the format this year and everything. We just need to win this game and be ready for the playoffs."