Alperen Sengun’s words after Turkey’s historic win over Greece in the EuroBasket 2025 semifinal, the eighth straight victory for Ataman’s squad.
“The coach told us: ‘I know we are a better team than them… I’ve been coaching for 30 years. If I say something, it’s true.’ That gave us confidence.”
The Houston Rockets star, after a shaky shooting start, still delivered a strong performance with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals.
“It doesn’t always have to be my night. This time it was my teammates’ turn to lead us offensively… I just kept playing aggressively, trying to do my best on defense and finishing the easy shots on offense.”
Ataman praised his team’s defensive effort, as Greece was forced into 22 turnovers and Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited to “just” 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists.
“We put our heart on the court tonight. We fight, it was a war for us. Ercan played really well, offensively, defensively, he was amazing. We just watched him today…..It wasn’t a bad performance from them. It was us… They started well, but we played more aggressively, with more energy than them… And we made our shots. We were simply better.”
“Giannis? We just put a lot of pressure on him. He’s one of the best players in the world, and we tried to help Ercan Osmani contain him. I think we did a good job… Giannis is an amazing player, but he’s not a great passer. So we just tried to close the paint.”
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