Ataman: “The calls against my players were out of control”

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Following the loss to Fenerbahce that practically erased his team’s playoff chances, Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman expressed his discontent with the officiating of the game, especially in the second quarter, which his opponents won 22 – 11.

“I think we started pretty well, moved the ball well and had open looks. Also in defense, we managed to stop Fenerbahce. After six minutes, their aggressivity level went up. We tried to be aggressive as well, but our most important defender Dunston got into foul trouble and I couldn’t understand how officials (referees) called those fouls. If you look into statistics, it could be seen that in the first and third quarters it was a neck and neck game. We won the last quarter but the problem was the second quarter which we lost the control of the game. Some reasons for that were our mistakes and missed open shots. But another reason was officials’ bad calls. Those calls against my players were out of control. After that, we had to try to come from behind and they won the game. Congrats to Fenerbahce,” Ataman said in the post-game press conference.

The Turkish coach then addressed the alleged behavior of Fenerbahce fans against him and called EuroLeague to take measures about it.

“This week, Euroleague sent a letter to clubs. In this letter, they asked for no comments against Euroleague because of public opinion purposes. I was fined for 20.000 euros last year because of that. Now I am asking Euroleague management: This (Fenerbahce) fan group used bad language and swore against me and Anadolu Efes throughout the whole game. How much does inappropriate language harm the Euroleague public opinion? Since this is a Euroleague game, I am curious if they will have any precaution about that. They swore in Turkish, but it is easy to detect them. Again I’m asking the same question. What does this inappropriate language have to do with Euroleague? They have to have their precautions about that. If I was fined last year and if they sent this letter, those people have to pay for their words. I am curious who will pay for those Fenerbahce fans who have been vulgar to me for years. We will see what happens from now on.” 
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