Prior to the season, NBA teams visit different countries to hold demonstrative matches. “San Antonio Spurs” met Berlin and Istanbul. Tired championship lost to “Alba” Berlin 93:94 and left for Turkey for the next match.
Getting on the NBA matches in difficult even for media, if they are not their official partners, which broadcast NBA matches live. “World Sport” had a privilege of presenting a list of accredited media outlets and tell the readers about the demonstrative matches of NBA.
A strict schedule for accredited journalists was following:
October 10
Giving accreditations in “Ciragan Palace Kempinski”. This is 5- star hotel, which is fully furnished with marbles, at first glance resembles a museum. NBA’s press office coordinated journalists here.
After taking the accreditation, “Darussafaka” sports arena waited for us with full composition of “San Antonio”. Here, “Spurs” was holding pre-match training, where we had the opportunity to watch trainings of legends.
October 11. “San Antonio Spurs” VS “Fenerbahce”
On October 11 “Spurs” faced Turkey’s most successful team “Fenerbahce”. This time “San Antonio” won 96:90. Tim, Tony, Manu were incredible. Ricky Hickman, former player of Georgian national basketball team, also played gained points for “Fenerbahce” (29 points).
The leadership belonged to “San Antonio” in all four halves. The first half ended 29:21, the second – 47:40, the third – 75:70. The trio of Ginobilli, Parker and Duncan was unparalleled as usual. However, the shot of Ogiuz Savashi in the second quarter is notable as well. Tired champions had acclimatization process during the game. After 7-year pause (after 2007) “San Antonio” lost to “Miami Heat” in final of 2012-13. As Manu say, this was a chance which they could not use, however in 2014 they corrected mistake, when they became champions.
“San Antonio’s” visiting was a great holiday in Istanbul. The district of “Fenerbahce” was seething. This was not an ordinary match. Everything was calculated beforehand. A special transport for fans was appointed in the direction of “Ulker Arena”.
“Ulker Arena” was crowded with fans. Many Turks came with “San Antonio” T-shirts. However, we can explain this behavior by supporting “Galatasaray” or “Besiktas”. The regular championship is a holiday in Turkey. The fans of “Galatasaray” and “Fenerbahce” cannot find a common language.
Lot of people gathered in the arena had to face many surprises before the game. The main surprise was when the legends of “San Antonio Spurs” came out to the arena: Sean Elliot (1999, “magic throw” against “Portland”) and George “Ice man” (ice man) Gervin. They presented to the audience and Turkey’s officials awarded them with symbolic prizes. Before the game start, the players applied to the fans.
“Welcome everyone. I am glad that today so many people gathered here. I will try to show you good game” – Manu Ginobilli.
The story of already hold match is nothing compared to what we have seen and heard at the workout in the previous day. We made interviews with Manu Ginobilli, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Kyle Anderson and finally with the coach Gregg Popovic, who does not like stupid questions. Popovic was tight-lipped, however was impressed with our questions and gave us quite detailed answers. We were very limited in time. We had only a minute for the players of “San Antonio”. We tried and quite effectively mastered these minutes.
“Spurs’ entire staff was friendly and approachable. They met us as old friends and not as “evil” media, who wants to “suck out” the information.
You will find the exclusive interviews with “San Antonio Spurs’ representatives on the website of “World Sport”.
Eka Lolua especially for worldsport.ge from Istanbul
Photos by the author
