The Turkish side won games at Chemnitz and Ulm in the last two rounds
Focused Turk Telekom get German road sweep, keep rolling
Report partita
3 Minuto di lettura
Regular Season
Round 10 of 18
Regular Season
group b
ratiopharm ulmULM
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Turk Telekom AnkaraTTA
group b
Overview
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Turk Telekom Ankara finished a tough spell in the schedule by sweeping two road games in Germany thanks to some strong focus, which has seen it remain one of the hottest teams in the competition.
Turk Telekom held ratiopharm ulm down defensively in rolling to a 53-87 victory after having beaten NINERS Chemnitz 87-63 on the road in Round 9 last Thursday for a 7-3 record, including seven wins in the last eight games.
“We are starting to understand everybody’s role in the team. We are starting to share the ball in the right way. And everybody is happy with each other’s success. And that is the great chemistry. I always say: As long as you have good chemistry, you have the potential to do good things,” said Turk Telekom head coach Erdem Can.
The Turkish side came into the game knowing it not only lost to Ulm in the first game of the season but also that it could not slow down the German side, losing 93-96 at home. And that contest was definitely on the team’s collective minds.
“We knew that the Ulm team has great potential and we saw that in the first game by receiving 96 points,” Coach Can said. “We were focused really defensively and I think in the first quarter we opened the game very strong defensive-wise. But in the first quarter, we played with Ulm’s rhythm offensively. That is why we had the turnovers. After that we picked up our pace, also offensively, played smart, also shared the ball in the right way. We knew we’re going to play against a tough, talented team. But we managed to finish the game strong.”
The first quarter was something for the record books. First off, Ulm missed its first 12 shots and committed 5 turnovers in failing to score in the first 8:17 minutes of the game. But Turk Telekom could not really do much at its end either, and the first quarter ended 4-10.
The 14 points in the first quarter tied the EuroCup record for the fewest combined points in a quarter – evening the mark from the third quarter between ALBA Berlin and BCM Gravelines Dunkerque (8-6) from November 5, 2013.
Turk Telekom got its offense going and pushed the lead to 13 points in the second quarter, with the cushion growing to 21 points after three quarters. The guests just pouring it on in the final 10 minutes.
“We just came together as a team and we rallied. We just played good this week,” said Kris Bankston, who paced five Turk Telekom players in double figures with 15 points and 13 rebounds – tying his personal best in scoring and setting a new mark for rebounds. “We just stuck to the principles and played better defense in the second half.”
Berkan Durmaz added 12 points and Jordan Usher chipped in 11 points in the win. All 10 players who played scored, and Coach Can really used his depth to help his team overcome the mental burden of three road games in the span of six days – at Chemnitz last Thursday, at Erokspor in the Turkish League last Sunday, and at Ulm on Wednesday evening. And the coach praised his guys’ mental toughness.
“It was very important for us to keep the energy. That is the mental part. Of course fatigue is one point, but our guys handled that by staying focused. And we tried to share the minutes,” he said.
At the other end, Ulm continues to struggle, having lost four straight and six of the last seven EuroCup games for a 4-6 record. In all competitions, Ulm has lost 11 of its last 13 games.
“Disappointed with the final score. Getting blown out like that is not what we want. But we saw them do it to Chemnitz last week. Turk Telekom is on a roll right now. A really strong team,” Ulm play-caller Ty Harrelson said. “When you play against a team like Turk Telekom, which is among the top in the EuroCup, and you get down by eight or 10, you have to have some poise and we are missing that a little bit right now.”
Ulm is still without Chris Ledlum as well as veteran point guard Tommy Klepeisz. Mark Smith did score 17 points and Tobias Jensen picked up 10 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, but the team shot 44.4% on two-pointers and 19.2% from long range while committing 18 turnovers.
“We have to get better,” Harrelson concluded.
