Will Anadolu Efes Become a Contender This Season Again?

A hot Vitoria night in last season, Anadolu Efes and Ergin Ataman eliminated Fenerbahçe Beko at Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four Semi Final. 1 month after, they beat Obradovic’s team again at the Turkish Basketball Super League Finals. From that day to today, every Turkish basketball lover have 1 simple question in their mind, “is this a one season miracle or old giant Anadolu Efes will rise and shine again?”, and then we come today the answer of the question is “Yes, Anadolu Efes shining again.”

Ergin Ataman has a beautiful career, 2002 FIBA Saporta Cup, 2012 FIBA Eurochallenge, 2016 Eurocup champion, 3 time Euroleague Final Four appearance and he want one last European Basketball Cup, the old shining Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Last season he was just one win away from the cup but this season, he will can win that “one” game. This season Efes team is have all things what Ataman want, a great rim pro Bryant Duston, athletic 3 pointer forwards, great floor generals, scorer and game changer guard like his old buddy Carlos Arroyo from Besiktas and Galatasaray. He always a great offensive coach but sometimes his teams had seriously defensive problems but this and last year’s Efes team does not have that weakness.

Anadolu Efes leads Turkish Airlines Euroleague this season, they played 11 and won 9, they 3rd best offence and 8th best defense in the first 11 weeks. Their field leader Shane Larkin had some MVP stats in this season, he brings 22 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, he leads whole league in points this season. At the end of November, Anadolu Efes faced Bayern Munich at home, if you looked at the box score, you saw Shane Larkin shine, he broke the league record with 49 points, old record was 41 and he destroyed that with a brilliant 5/7 on 2 point range, 10/12 on 3pts and 9/10 on foul line what a masterpiece performance! First 11 games we saw if Efes and Larkin want beat somebody, they will do that. But at the Last 8 and Final Four time, sometimes you can’t handle the pressure and have some big problems, can Ataman and his army handle the pressure and win the title, we will see!

Tamer Dinçer.