Nick Calathes, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul guard:
“We came out a little slow in the first quarter, too many turnovers. The last 5 minutes of the second quarter gave us momentum, we saw that we could play a big guy on Kevin [Pangos] or one of the guards, we switched a lot and it was difficult for them to score from that point on. Our defense was the key. Everyone contributed, it goes from the first guy to the 12th guy, we’re a very deep bench and every road game is very important. A win against this team is great.”
Nigel Hayes-Davis, Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul forward:
“We didn’t respond to the intensity they had in the first half. Their coach made some comments about them needing to fight harder, play harder, win games and be tougher. Coach told us they would come out extremely aggressive in the first half and they did that. We were down almost 20, it felt like the crowd was into the game, and at halftime, coach told us the only way we can have a chance is to match that intensity and try to exceed it, and we did a good job in the second half. It starts on defense. The guys know we have a mantra: first team. It’s a team thing. Coach always says we have our best games when we play our best defense. In the second half, we played pretty good defense and were able to get the win.”