By Michalis Gioulenoglou/ info@eurohoops.net
Latvia, Riga – Ergin Ataman is outspoken and never shy about having an opinion. Since the game on the line on Friday is the 2025 Eurobasket semifinal against Greece, the Turkish national team coach started the (mental) game two days earlier.
Speaking about Giannis Antetokounmpo and how Turkey can stop him, coach Ataman cut to the chase, also discussing the way the referees will officiate the game.
As he said: “Giannis can score for sure, so there’s no way. Will not focus on how to stop Giannis, but how to play our regular defense. We will think about the matchups and would also like to say that coach Vassilis Spanoulis is not only technically good, but also mentally, he is very smart. I have talked many times with him in the past, and I think he has learned also some mental strategy from me, or he was like this. He said in Cyprus, during the group stage, that Giannis is getting very few free throws compared to Doncic, Sengun, and Jokic, and I saw that yesterday against Lithuania he shot 16 free throws”.
Ataman went directly for the counter-move: “It’s a smart move, but I can also say other things on the mental side. You know, NBA basketball and European basketball are different. In the NBA, there’s a lot of space on the offense for penetration, attacking, and Giannis is the best for this, but European basketball is different. There are no rules for defensive three seconds, and I saw that he made a lot of offensive fouls. You can give a call to Giannis when people foul him, but also, I think, when he penetrates, if there is an offensive foul, they should call it too, because when I saw in the previous game, I saw many, many offensive fouls. So, this is also my mental strategy”.
Speaking about the roster of Greece, Ataman was full of praise: “Greece has very experienced players, not only Giannis. Sloukas, Papanikolaou, Dorsey… they are very good. They have a lot of experience and for sure it will be a very tough game, maybe, after our Serbia game, one of the best games in this tournament”.
Ataman had good words for Greek coach Vassilis Spanoulis: “He is a great coach. He showed this in Greece when he was coaching in Peristeri BC. After this year, he showed in Monaco, and of course, he’s smart. He was the smartest player in Europe… He has one of the biggest stars in the world of basketball, Giannis. He used him very well, and this team is very good”.
Ataman repeated that Cedi Osman’s injury makes him a question mark for the game and also praised Kostas Sloukas (“for me he is the best point guard in Europe”), Alexandros Samodurov, Dinos Mitoglou, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, and also Vassilis Toliopoulos, who is a newcomer in the Greek EuroLeague powerhouse Panathinaikos, where Ataman is also the head coach.
And of course, the Turkish mastermind had to comment on the news of Athens getting to host the EuroLeague Final Four of 2026 in the home court of Panathinaikos: “I send my congratulations to all my managers in the club, because they really did a good job. Congratulations to Euroleague because they are smart, our gym is right now the best arena with a big difference in Europe, and Athens is one of the best basketball cities right now with Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. I hope to be there with my team, Panathinaikos, because there is no guarantee that we will make it there. We will have to fight like every year, and this season the EuroLeague expanded to 20 teams, so it will be even more difficult”.