By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Turkey forced Greece superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to a personal tournament-low 12 points (on 6-13 shots) en route to a dominant performance and a 98 – 64 win in the EuroBasket semifinals.
It was the most effective strategy by any EuroBasket team against Antetokounmpo and Turkey coach Ergin Ataman analyzed how his players stopped the Greek Freak from becoming a factor in the game.
“We played aggressive defense,” Ataman said. “Everybody was taking one step back for Giannis. We denied him. We always forced him to take one strong dribble inside and then always trapped him with Alperen Sengun. Ercan Osmani aggressively denied him and every time he tried to beat Osmani we came to help inside with Sengun. He never found his space. As I said in a press conference, this isn’t the NBA. In the European basketball if you prepare your defense inside the paint well and your players are aggressive in in closing in and out of him, it’s not very difficult to stop him.”
While Osmani contributed in stopping Antetokounmpo, he became lit on the other end of the floor. The Anadolu Efes forward had 14 points in the first quarter to push Turkey toward taking a 26 – 16 advantage and finished with 28 points on 6-8 triples, apart from six rebounds.
Ataman joked that his overall performance and especially his defense against Giannis may take him away from Efes and to an NBA team.
“Osmani played great defense against Giannis. I dont’ know if my friend. Efes general manager Ismail Senol will be in trouble that many NBA teams will come to Osmani to try to stop Giannis. But he’s very happy with Efes. He did a great job, very smart and aggressive.”
Turkey will participate in the EuroBasket Final for the second time in history. They will face reigning world champion Germany for the gold medal.
“We took an amazing victory but it’s not enough for us,” Ataman said. “We’re ready to fight for the title.”