By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Galatasaray had a great season in the Basketball Champions League, making it all the way to the Final, but couldn’t take down Unicaja Malaga in the championship game.
Head coach Yakup Sekizkök spoke at the postgame press conference and shared his thoughts on the game in detail.
“The turning point of the game was, first and foremost, the foul trouble we got into—especially with Will Cummings. Maybe all the fouls that were called were correct; we’ll rewatch the game. Still, in my opinion, one or two of them didn’t need to be called. I don’t think such soft fouls should be whistled in a final. Unfortunately, it happened to Will. That was our biggest problem.
Secondly, we only got scoring contributions off the bench from Blumbergs and Wallace. Of course, all our players fought hard and gave everything they had. We played very good defense in the first half and in the third quarter. Our defense held up well until the last five or six minutes. But we didn’t score enough, and that broke our spirit and resistance. Our free throw and three-point percentages weren’t at the level we wanted.
Still, I congratulate my players—they all gave 100%. They worked all season for this goal. I would have loved to see gold medals on their chests, but hopefully we’ll gain the necessary experience and strengthen this roster to achieve that next year. No matter which European competition we’re in next season, we have to keep going like this.
We must keep moving forward to prove that Galatasaray belongs in finals and championship games. We need to be consistently present in places like this, like Tenerife, Unicaja, and AEK are. Regardless of the competition, we must regularly reach the final stages. And we’ll start working toward that as soon as possible.”
Sekizkök also touched on the potential impact this final could have on Galatasaray.
“Of course, there’s a big difference between finishing first and second. Had we won the championship, we would’ve received much stronger public and club support. Maybe even additional sponsorship support.
Still, the Final Four is played as a single-elimination event. For example, Tenerife came here undefeated and as the biggest favorite. They arrived as second in the Spanish League, ahead of Unicaja, and yet they lost in the semifinal. Anything can happen in a single game. We’re talking about strong and evenly matched teams.
In fact, the single-game format also worked in our favor—after all, Unicaja were the favorites from the start of the season. They won the title last year and claimed the Spanish Cup this year. Hopefully, this final will help us build a better roster for next season. That’s what we’ll work toward.”