Shane Larkin, Efes: 'We are going to come back better'

Regular Season

Round 34 of 34

game AS Monaco vs Anadolu Efes Istanbul

Regular Season

Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS

8772

AS MonacoASM

Overview

Ergin Ataman, Anadolu Efes Istanbul head coach

"I'm so sad. I'd like to apologize to the Efes supporters, the club and the board. We have a great team, but we failed. So after four years, this season we failed. My mistake, my fault, sorry to everybody. That's all.

"Of course, it was very difficult to play a game like this, without a goal for the back-to-back champion team. After five years, this is the first time we played a game without a big goal. But, anyway, we played good basketball. We showed that [we can play well] when we focus and we don’t have injured guards, because our system depends too much on the guards. We played well on offense and really good on defense and finally we won the game. We wanted to win the game because it was the last game of the season for us. I am very sad because, after four years [in which] we made history in European basketball, this season we failed and, of course, as a coach this is my fault."

Sasa Obradovic, AS Monaco head coach

"Let's forget about this game and think about what is in front of us. We respect [Maccabi] a lot. I think that we have a strong opponent like everybody in the playoffs, so it's going to be an interesting series.

"Of course, congratulations to Efes. They deserved to win this game. We didn’t enter the game like we wanted. We were sloppy. Maybe we already had our heads in the playoffs. It wasn’t easy to motivate the team to play this kind of game. Probably I would be coaching this game differently, but at this moment for us, in this kind of schedule that we found ourselves, it was important to get people involved."

Shane Larkin, Anadolu Efes Istanbul guard

"You know, it's bittersweet. Obviously, it always feels good to win, but for the first time in a few years this is our last game in the EuroLeague. We are not going to the playoffs. Our season ended today, but at least we ended it with a home win in front of our fans so that's a good feeling. I think for everyone involved, the number one word to describe our season is 'disappointing'. We came into the season with a lot of expectations. Obviously, I've always been in the playoffs, always been in the Final Four, and this is our first year not even in the playoffs. So tonight we didn't even have a chance to go and defend our title after the last two years working so hard to get there. It's obviously not a good feeling. We always feel that we could have done better, but basketball is basketball and you need to win. So we need to appreciate our fans, they came and supported us all season. This season wasn't what we wanted it to be, but we are always going to have support from them and we feel good that they are still here, even in the last game of the season. I want to say thank you to them and we are going to come back better next year."

Vasilije Micic, Anadolu Efes Istanbul player

"It's a little bit of an empty feeling, but I think that this is our profession. I don't think that we created anything bad this season, except that we were always a little bit short in some moments. It was a new team, from the very beginning. We had four new players that we tried to make them feel like home, but we had some bad luck with injuries and we were chasing all the time something – a position, some victories. But we should use the time we have to play to improve our chemistry, our feelings inside the team, and I think that we will do that. Even when I win, I think the same. Every day is a new opportunity. I really think that we created something special. We should not feel too sad about this loss because being four years in the highest position is really not easy. Keeping the same team really wasn't easy. But for me, personally, I don't think that anything will change. I just go tomorrow, get another practice and get myself ready for a new challenge."