Anadolu Efes having 8 foreigners almost beaten by the Turkish kids of Galatasaray
I know that was a friendly game and the motivation and the desire to play are lower than expected for a great team but what happened on the court was unbelievable. The title contender of the Euroleague, Anadolu Efes struggled in the last minute of the encounter to win against the shortest bench ever Galatasaray.
First, Anadolu Efes used for this game 8 foreigners when in Tukey the teams are allowed with only 5 in the domestic league. It was a friendly game so they could put on that list 8 foreigners, to rotate them preparing the official games, I understood. What I don’t understand is how these 8 Euroleague stars were not able to prove their value against only 3 foreigners of Galatasaray a team that will play in Basketball Champions League this season.
The difference between the budgets of the clubs is huge and the results are that 8 high-paid foreigners like Dunston, Micic, Pleiss, Anderson, Moerman, Singleton, Beaubois and Simon plus very good Turkish players like Balbay, Senli and Tuncer are playing the same level like some Turkish kids of Galatasaray.
Let’s say that during the game Anadolu Efes led easily in some moments and that’s why their motivation was not so high. They could win that encounter by more than 20 points margin like they did a couple of days ago against Galatasaray. Let’s say that Efes relaxed during the first 3 quarters. But what happened in the last stanza when in the first minutes the Euroleague powerhouse entering with their best 5 foreigners against only 1 foreigner and 4 Turkish youngsters was not able to seal the win? Not able to score for minutes. Missing everything.
Galatasaray played almost the entire game with home-grown players because some of their foreigners are missing and their best Turkish player, Koksal was as well out. Galatasaray had only 5 experienced guys for this encounter, but they played important minutes almost with young local players. And almost beating maybe “the best” team in Europe. How is this possible?
Image: Euroleague
