By Semih Tuna/ info@eurohoops.net
In the semifinal game of the FIBA Basketball Champions League Final Four, Galatasaray defeated La Laguna Tenerife in Athens and made it to the final.
Galatasaray head coach Yakup Sekizkök answered Eurohoops’ questions after the match.
Coach Sekizkok’s post-game statements are as follows:
“For us, our own performance is more important than our opponents. We know that we can beat anyone in this cup as long as we can play our own game. Of course, we have great respect for Tenerife, they are a very good and synchronized team. They are very organized in offense and defense, they have been playing together for years. They have been coached by the same coach for years, so I have great respect for them. They are in the Final Four almost every year, of course this is not an easy task. They are doing a special job, they are already in 2nd place in the Spanish League this year. However, this does not concern us, we look at our own performance and goals. We know that we can be even better, we trust our players. No matter who our opponent is in the final, we will make the opponent accept our own basketball and hopefully win the match.”
Yakup Sekizkok also talked about the part where they came back from 15 points with the following words:
“Frankly, we didn’t change much when we came back. Of course, you take some risks in defense, after all, it is impossible to keep the opponent at zero points. We conceded 45 points in the first half, but we believed in our own game, we said ‘it will hold in the second half’. So we continued to do the same things and played a tremendous defense in the third quarter. We didn’t change anything in defense, but in offense, Tenerife was very prepared for our double plays. They took very good precautions against our short overthrows and off-ball runs. We lost the ball a few times with Ebuka (Izundu) in the first half. We changed some things in offense, instead of attacking the rim vertically, we tried to play in a wider area. We tried horizontal passes and attacks to a wider rim, in this way we pushed Tenerife’s defense and opened the field. We attacked the opened areas with dribbles and scored points. When we couldn’t find them, we went to the line.”
Does the coach believe that we watched the best Galatasaray of the season? in the semifinal?
“The best Galatasaray of the season will be in the final on Sunday.”
Yakup Sekizkok also said the following about the leadership displayed by Will Cummings:
“We are very happy with all our players, we are very lucky to have them all. Otis (Livingston)’s injury, Tyrone (Wallace)’s injury, Rob (Gray)’s injury… So we are riding on Will’s back. He carried us to this point, I think he will lift the cup he deserves on Sunday.”
The big question is if the cup will to Turkey on Sunday night?
“It will come,” said Sekizkok.