In statements he made at the press conference after Panathinaikos’ victory in Game 5 with Efes, Ergkin Ataman He stood how difficult the clashes were with his former team, touched Osman for his appearance, and made it clear that he is not yet thinking about the back-to-back winning the title, preceding the difficult semifinal with Fenerbahce.
In detail what the Panathinaikos coach said:
“The whole series was very difficult. Congratulations to Efes, the players showed a terrible character and never gave up. We changed the series to Game 3 we won in the city and got the home advantage again. Tonight we started with confidence, terrible defense, points to the surprise with Osman, Gabriel played a terrible defense. They did not play their attack. We got a potential and got an advantage. After that we didn’t have the same contribution from the bench, especially in the middle of the second period and lost the big lead. The same in the third quarter, we made many mistakes tonight, 16 mistakes are many. The key players lost a lot of shots, but we had a lot of offensive rebounds. Osman was awesome, the best match of the season in Panathinaikos and we finally found a way to win and qualify for the Final-4.
In the playoffs nothing is easy. Efes is a terrible team. Before the playoffs came to our headquarters with 8 consecutive wins in the regular season. They showed it. It was very difficult. All teams will fight in Abu Dhabi and be one of them.
It’s not easy when Nan doesn’t play well. He did not find a rhythm. Throughout the series, Efes played a terrible defense with 2-3 players on him. He found a shot tonight, in the first period he put on two shots. In the second half he was anxious, began to lose a shot. Can happen. It is important that he has played a terrible defense. We’re in the Final-4 and there he will play well.
I’m not ready to think about Abu Dhabi. We had two weeks with stress. For me it was an emotional series against my former team, with which I have memories. I had stress in this order. I have to rest and then we will be ready for the Final-4. Of course, for the semifinals first.
I don’t think about back-to-back or three-peat. I don’t have this pressure. I will rest and get ready for the semifinals. I will not think of the title. We have a semifinal against a very good team, and if we pass I will think of the title.
Yesterday before the match I talked about what happened. I don’t want to repeat them, I’m tired. I live in what I said (about the incident in Turkey in Game 4) ».
Source: Sport Fm
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