Ali Muhammed, Turkey’s naturalized point guard, puts up a shot against Sengalese defenders. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Just two days removed from playing one of his worst games, Ali Muhammed came out at his best Thursday night.
The naturalized guard made one big shot after another late in the fourth quarter, taking a 360-degree turn after a woeful outing in a loss to Canada.
“In the second half, he played his regular basketball. Bobby Dixon is this, he’s our most experienced player and one of the best point guards in the Euro league,” Turkey head coach Ergin Ataman said of Ali Muhammed, his Turkish name.
Ataman had seen Muhammed take over games before in the Euroleague and Turkish Basketball Super League countless of times to even be amazed with what he had just witnessed from the naturalized point guard.
Muhammed, too, downplayed his clutch performance where he scored Turkey’s last 15 points in the final three minutes and 48 seconds of their crucial 68-62 win over Senegal.
“Finally, in the last quarter he found his regular shots, he made the shots and it’s normal for him. Those are his shots and we needed him to stay in the game,” Ataman said.
“I just kept playing. Players go through situations like this. Once I saw the ball go in a couple of times, my confidence started to come back,” said the 33-year-old Muhammed, who looks a couple inches smaller than his listed height of 5-foot-10.
The victory propelled Turkey to the semifinals where it will face either group B’s no. 1 seed France.
And as Muhammed faces one of the world’s best guards in Tony Parker, Ataman knows the only way Turkey can move on to the final.
“We will need this kind of offensive performance from him [Muhammed] in the semifinals.”