Ergin Ataman: “We want to achieve the best ranking in the group”

A National Men's Basketball Team Head Coach Ergin Ataman made evaluations at the press conference held after the match at Arena Riga, where the team defeated Portugal 95-54 in their third match in Group A of the 2025 European Basketball Championship (EuroBasket 2025), making it 3 wins out of 3 and securing their spot in the Round of 16.

Expressing his satisfaction with the victory, Ergin Ataman said, "We played excellent basketball. Portugal is a very dangerous team. They played very aggressively in previous matches. We responded to them in the same way. We performed very well on offense and defense. We used Alperen Şengün and Ömer Faruk Yurtseven very well under the basket. We achieved another victory with very good basketball in this championship. We want to achieve the best ranking in the group."

Sharing his thoughts on Alperen Şengün, who stood out with his successful performance in the three matches, Ataman said; "Alperen played well in this match too. We didn't push him too much. We pulled away at the beginning of the second half. Alperen doesn't need to prove his quality in this tournament. He is a world star who has shown his quality as an NBA all-star at the age of 23."

Pointing out that Estonia is a strong team, Ergin Ataman made an assessment before the fourth match in the group. Ataman stated; "Estonia has shown a good performance in the last 2 matches. We are thinking about that match. Then we will think about the Serbia match. Serbia is the favorite of EuroBasket 2025. However, we have no reservations against anyone."