Ergin Ataman press conferece quotes
Of course it’s better to be on the winning side after a shot at the buzzer. So I am sorry for my friend Bartzokas. It was really a great game. Congratulations also to the Olympiacos club. They created a great atmosphere here at the Final Four. The first time I saw in a Final Four in a different country more than 15,000 people. It was a fantastic atmosphere. We didn’t start the game well. In the beginning, Bartzokas’ defensive strategy worked very well because they put pressure on Micic and Larkin. We didn’t find a way to attack. But after that - especially after Elijah Bryant entered the game - we found another scorer. We attacked Dorsey and Sloukas with him. In the mean time, Shane Larkin in that period, had his game, especially in transition offense. We tried to increase the tempo, and we had some success. We got back into the game. In the second half, I think we controlled the game. Many times we led by 10 or 11 points. We had control. But after Larkin had a cramp and was out 3 or 4 minutes he came back into the game but didn’t have the same rhythm. Micic got tired. We lost some easy possessions down the stretch and Olympiacos got back into the game. And then the buzzer shot by Micic. Once again, three years consecutively we will play in the final.
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It’s a great pleasure that Popovic is here to watch the games. He’s a legend in basketball history. Maybe after three consecutive finals he will think about taking a European coach for the NBA. He helped me to go to NBA. He is a very good friend. Four years ago I went to San Antonio and stayed with him for 10 days. He’s an amazing person. Not only a great coach. On the other side, for us, it’s really a great performance for this team. I took over the team in 2017-18 in last place in the EuroLeague and the last four seasons we are at the same level - if you also consider the season that was canceled, when we were in first place. I talked with my players in the locker room, of course it’s a big result to play the final. But we came here to win the cup one more time. We are just one game from going back-to-back. And we will do everything we can to win the title again this year.
We know that he is the most important part of the Olympiacos attack because he creates, he scores, he plays the pick-and-roll. And his distribution of the ball. He likes to pass the ball to Vezenkov for corner shots and Papanikolaou. We made a different strategy in the beginning. We stayed on the second level with him but in the last seven, eight seconds we stayed strong on him on the pick-and-roll to close his pass channel. We risked some shots from the perimeter but we were successful. Actually in the beginning we had some big trouble stopping Moustapha Fall inside. In the second half, we changed the strategy and started with more defensive players - Bryant Dunston and Chris Singleton. And through that we had a great job. Also Elijah Bryant was one of the key players in our strategy tonight. Because when they put pressure on Micic and Larkin we used Bryant to attack Dorsey and Sloukas and we found the way to attack.
We wanted to use the whole shot clock. That’s the reason we started from the baseline. It was a tied game and I talked in the timeout that we would attack the last five or six seconds - first to control overtime - and then play pick and pop on their four man Vezenkov who likes to attack. We chose Micic because after Larkin had the cramp he was out of his rhythm. We did what we wanted but I didn’t talk to Micic to shoot the ball. I told him to read and maybe attack because there could also be the bonus free throw. He didn’t find the way to attack and decided to shoot. We missed some easier shots in the final five or six possessions but he made it at the buzzer. This is basketball. We lost in Athens on that kind of shot - to Sloukas in the regular season in overtime. Tonight we won. Unfortunately for them, this is the Final Four and we will play in the final.
About final opponent I have all the respect for both teams - big clubs, big coaches. But in my feeling, I am upset because this season I did not the Barcelona games. In both games, I was disqualified and I didn’t finish the game. For me it will be different motivation if I again find Barcelona in the final and to finish the game with the cup.
