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Markovic's Trabzon the greatest sensation of the league

They started with 1-6 record, then changed the coach and some players. Their goal was to stay in the league, and they recently defeated Darussafaka 2-0 in the quarter-final. They are now completely relaxed, and somewhat dangerous, facing efes Pilsen

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Efes struggled a bit in the quarter-final series against Telekom, they had to play a deciding match, but in reality, their advancement to the semi-final never came into question. They scored 88, 83 and 90 points, it was only a matter of time for them in which game they would play defensively at the expected level. Not by accident, it happened in games where Ivkovic had Stratos Perperoglou in rotation, while without the Greek forward, like in Ankara, they didn't exist in defense and they conceded too many easy points. 

- We had a great opening of the third game, the defense was aggressive, and we had great efficiency in three point shots in the offense - said coach Ivkovic. They already had 19-17 after first ten minutes, and Telekom couldn't come under ten point difference for the rest of the game. 

Perperoglou has returned to rotation at Didi Draper's position and we'll probably see the same Efes lineup.

Trabzonspor have certain similarities to Telekom because they are also an offensive team, but Trabzon still seems like a more compact team, capable to play better in the defense, but unlike Telekom they have shorter bench and definitely weaker Turkish players. That is not negligible because all teams can have 6 strangers at most and when you see that Efes has Osman, Balbay, Batuk, Korkmaz (recovered and was on team in the last game) and Cenk Akyol as of recently, then it is a great weight on Efes' side. 

They won both of their head-to-head games this season. The first one was in the second round when Trabzon still had their old coach and didn't have Ivanov, Bost and Altintig, who came later, and Randle and Lawal, who are long gone from the team, still played in that first game. Their second game, when Trabzon already consolidated their ranks, Efes won even more convincingly, 97-71 at Trabzonspor's court, which was one of the most convincing wins of Dusan Ivkovic's team this season. The defense was on the right level, they scored a lot of easy points, they were in the lead 53-40 at halftime... It was shooting-wise unrealistic performance (58% two pointers, 57% three pointers), which Efes rarely accomplish and it shouldn't be expected today. 

Defense will have a crucial role for them, probably with Janning on Hardy, Nenad Markovic's key offensive player. Efes is dominating all other positions, bit it will be interesting to watch the duels between Krstic and Stipanovic, as well as Saric against Velickovic. 

Trabzon are definitely the greatest sensation of the season. They started with a 1-6  record, changed the coach and some players, reached the Eurochallenge final, finished sixth, they will probably play in the Eurocup, and then 2-0 in the quarter-final eliminated Darussafaka, the third best team in the league, who were already preparing a 30 million budget for the Euroleague. 

- I am very proud of my players and people who supported us from the start. I can tell them only one thing, we are not done yet - said Markovic after winning the second game. 

They left Darussafaka with Jordan Farmar at 65 and 71 points, with very low shot percentage which is proof of their good defensive work. Their chances in this best-of-three series will be as good as their defense against Efes, and Efes have the home court advantage.