By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman opened his statements following the loss of his team to Real Madrid by expressing a complaint about the hour of the game’s tip-off.
“One notice for EuroLeague: For me and for the players, it’s unfair to play a game at this time. It’s 1:00 after midnight now in our country [Turkey]. They must find some solution about this. It’s very difficult for us to play. For the game routine, for the players, to play the game at 1:00 A.M.. It’s very difficult,” Ataman said.
The match began at 21:00 CET which is 23:00 for Turkey.
When a reporter asked Ataman if he meant that Real’s win wasn’t fair the coach replied: “I think you don’t understand. You have an I.Q. problem? I didn’t say that Real Madrid won unfairly.”
On the game’s specifics, Ataman commented: “I think that we played a perfect game, also in the statistics. We are better in field goal shooting, had more assists and less turnovers. Only in the rebounds [we lost] and everybody watched the game. Congratulations to Real Madrid.”