Well, this is a really bad coincidence that we will play with the strongest team of tournament in this stage. No need to wear mourning, we should search for the weaknesses of French team to lay those problems bare. French team is great but not flawless. They have already showed a lot of deficiencies on defense, to get benefit from their defensive holes, you should play so determined, wise and unpermissive. We should accept the fact, they are more talented and can score in maximum, in minimum time. First thing that we should do is remembering the reality of Turkey is a defensive minded team. We were always like that and to cause an upset, we should play with heart and mind at the same time. Turkish defense was considered as the biggest weapon of this team but what we have seen from group stage is telling us the opposite. You can't win anything with only scoring and scoring. The Turkish team is full of defensive minded guys but the reality lies behind of the ''ambition'' of team. Aside from Germany and Italy game, the team even didn't try to play defense to get away from fatigue. Some said that was unacceptable while the rest agreed that this was a clever move of Ataman to get what he wants from group stage. If you show any apathy against France, they will be too far away from showing mercy to us. From first second to last second, the team should bite French offense tightly. If it is a must, we should even not consider foul trouble. I would rather to see more free throw points of France instead of seeing points from organized set offenses. We ought to reconsider our zone press in this game since they have very quality and experienced guards who don't tend to make easy mistakes. But no if Ataman says I will apply this press on defense, then we should play with more mobile players on the floor. For example, Osman should play as PF while pressing, when they break the press, there should be a fast and stretch forward who is able to defend French forwards. Ilyasova can't defend the guys whose first step is too quick. French set offenses didn't impress me at all so man to man defense seems a better option instead of one of risky defense. Gobert is a big problem in rebounding positions so maybe Aldemir can be used as PF in some part of games. Defense starts from the guard, I hope Dixon will exert himself on defense against Parker. Easy buckets from Parker is the last thing I want in this game. 1-3-1 zone defense also may be a good option to reduce the efficiency of French penetrations. They have couldn't came up to a good percentage in 3 points yet and we hope, they will shoot a little bit worse. Almost every French player likes to drive through the basket, Erden should be a disincentive factor under the rim. We had a chance to see Turkish 1-3-1 zone defense and we applied it well in some games. I am sure Ataman will use this instead of zone full court press.
Strangely, we scored more than we have thought. Moreover, those scores didn't come from the scorer of team. Mahmutoğlu is the key part of team. If he can find his shooting form, I am quite optimistic about this game. He is the biggest disappointment of our team. When he shouldered score stats in preparation games, I thought finally he transformed into a good score option. When he starts to drop those threes, he is such a badass to defend on. I hope, when it matters like in this game, he will find his shooting form and will relax the team with threes. His threes are more valuable than any of threes that are made another guy. When he takes the helm, the defensive pressure on other guys automatically decrease due to focusing on Mahmutoğlu's off-screen shots. I choose Mahmutoğlu as the skeleton key of this game.
Osman is already the most valuable guy that we have with all his hustles and ambition. Efes fans are so glad to watch him and me too. He is improving himself day to day and has at least 2 more quality years to reach his maximum potential. He is doing everything on floor defensively and offensively. His pressure on Batum and post up defense against Gelabale will boost defensive desire. I hope he will also manage to score 10+ somehow. The energy of Osman is the what we have as an important thing, plus we are playing organized when he plays as a decision maker.
The X factor of this game will Erden. Gobert has monster defense and I am not sure if Erden can find opportunity to score. Gobert is such a quality defender and can almost defend everything on defense. The quick PnR plays can work on Gobert. Erden is relatively quicker than him and a strong roll through the paint can mean dunks. Of course the passer of this game matters. We are playing effective 4-5 PnRs and maybe we can use this one against them.
