22 seconds is an eternity in basketball, enough time to launch at least one more attack. But the Turkish national team mysteriously lost exactly that amount of playing time in their group match against Georgia in Tbilisi. The encounter ended after two overtimes 83:88 (75:75, 68:68, 33:36) from a Turkish point of view – and in quite a scandalous way. Turkey protested, the world association Fiba announced an investigation.
A few minutes before the end of the game, the clock just kept ticking despite the referees being interrupted, although none of the ten basketball players on the floor were actually playing at that moment. The scenes from Georgia, where next to Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic there are also preliminary round games, framed a game that is now being looked at heartily. Only a few hours after the turbulence in the German game against Lithuania, the next chaos happened at this basketball championship. The Turkish side is considering drastic steps if there is no investigation and sanctions.
On Sunday evening, the heat of a hard-fought duel in the final quarter had led to plenty of discussion – and to more tangible issues. After a shove between Furkan Korkmaz and Georgia’s Duda Sanadze, the Turkish NBA man was dismissed from the field by the referees. The scene happened when there was 4:48 left on the clock, the score was close, both teams want to reach the round of 16. When Korkmaz had to go down, the game time clearly ticked on before the turmoil continued with an attack by the Turks. The riots on the bench went so far that the Turkish national coach Ergin Ataman was thrown out of the hall.
Georgia’s national coach Ilias Zouros had to be similarly upset in this roaring duel.
(Photo: Irakli Gedenidze/Reuters)
That was by no means the end of the excitement, as the Turkish association’s vice-president Ömer Onan explained: “When Furkan wanted to go through the aisle to the dressing room, players from the Georgian team who were not in the squad attacked him together with one who was also sent off the field player (Sanadze, ed.).” The police are said to have physically attacked the professional from the Philadelphia 76ers, allegedly 30 (!) officers had forced the Turks into a violent scuffle. “I call on the world association not to be fooled here,” Onan said : “We’re not stupid. They should provide us with the camera recording of the events in the cabin aisle, minute by minute – otherwise we’ll leave the tournament.”
“We’re here to play basketball, not boxing,” complained the Turkish assistant coach
Georgia’s best basketball player Toko Shengelia, who is injured at the European Championship, is said to have been among the attackers. “The police acted as if they were protecting us, but they pushed us and we almost got into a fight with the officers,” said Onan, chief of the association. Turkey’s assistant coach Hakan Demir, who took over for the previously freaked out ataman, said the Georgians treated his delegation disrespectfully: “We’re here to play basketball, not boxing. This is a big scandal.”
And as far as the stolen season was concerned, the Turks suspect base ideas. “It wasn’t just one or two seconds, but 22, so we assume it was intentional,” said Demir. At that point the Georgians were ahead, every second of the clock increased the pressure on the Turks. “We came here assuming that Georgia would give us a friendly welcome,” said Demir, “but we cannot accept that.”
While the Cologne hall is usually full, even when Germany isn’t playing, the whole atmosphere in Georgia is “very bad”, as Coach Ataman had said beforehand. “Sometimes only 100 fans come into the hall here”, the organization also leaves a lot to be desired. In addition to the question of how the Georgians see things, one thing above all sticks with them: Here, too, the referees made an overwhelmed impression.
It is becoming clear that the best referees in their field are not at work at this European Championship: The referees who whistle as professionals in the Euroleague are not allowed to play at the Fiba European Championship event because the world association has been at odds with the Euroleague for years. It’s about money, influence, free time slots for national team games and competitions, some of which run parallel to each other. At the European Championship, Fiba provides its own referees, but their less stringent handling seems questionable throughout the tournament – see a “forgotten” free throw by the Lithuanians in a duel with Germany.