By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
VITORIA-GASTEIZ –On Sunday at 20.30 CET, Anadolu Efes will fight for its first ever EuroLeague title against the dynasty known as CSKA Moscow. However, even if this is also the first EuroLeague final for Efes‘ coach Ergin Ataman, he feels more than ready.
“For me, it’s not enough to just play in the Final“, explained Ataman. “This is my first EuroLeague final, but I have played many other European competitions finals and I have never lost”. Ataman has won the EuroCup (2016), the Saporta Cup (2002) and the EuroChallenge (2012), but CSKA Moscow coach Dimitris Itoudis, a EuroLeague champion in 2017, had his answer ready: “What can I say? Coach Ataman said that they will so I guess the game is not going to be interesting”.
However, Ataman was also more than flattering about the Final Four competition: “We beat in the semifinal the greatest coach in Europe and the best team in Europe. Obradovic and Fenerbahce are like Popovich and the Spurs, but we played like Golden State. And CSKA and Clyburn are like Milwaukee and Antetokounmpo so we will have a great game. I know that there’s tension in Turkey between Efes and Fenerbahce BEKO, but I expect all the Turkish people to support us in the final because when the Turkish flag is up, all the rest must take second place”.
Itoudis: “We always believed in us”
For coach Dimitris Itoudis and CSKA Moscow, the motivation in this Final Four is quite different. “It goes with the job”, said Itoudis when he was asked about the inherent pressure in CSKA every season to win the title because they are one of the biggest spenders in Europe and he explained why this kind of pressure motivated his team: “There were a lot of talks about CSKA this season. If we are hungry, if we can do it. And that gave us a lot of motivation. We always believed in us”.
And this is all about the team as Nando De Colo replied when asked about his personal performance in the Fernando Buesa Arena gym: “This gym has a great history and I always play well here, but this is about the team, not me”.
Larkin: “I wanted to send a message”
Shane Larkin, who registered a new EuroLeague Final Four record with 43 PIR in the semifinal, explained his own motivation: “When I played my first year in Europe as a member of Baskonia, I was swept in the playoffs by CSKA Moscow. That’s why I wanted to send a message this season. I have a coach who helped me grow and we are not done yet. I started my European career in Vitoria and it will be a full circle to win my first EuroLeague title in here”.
It’s quite a message already send by Efes, which finished last one year ago and now competes in the title. Speaking about the turnaround, Ataman explained: “We had our limitations due to the economic situation in Turkey, but we tried to build a good team that plays beautiful basketball. We attracted a lot of fans in our games, not hooligans, and despite having a small fan base, we created a spectacle that people wanted to see. Our season can be the guide for what EuroLeague wants in order to build teams in major cities, like Paris or London”.
Here’s the full video of the press conference.