“We got a shock out of nowhere, you pay against Maccabi”

Winner League Basket 20-21

Moshe Barda 12/02/2021 07:00

Guy Pnini (Itzik Belnitsky)

Feelings of disappointment alongside pride at Hapoel Holon after the loss last night (Thursday) 87:85 after extra time for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the semi-finals of the State Cup. In the first seconds after the game the team members were agitated, when even the team coach Stefanos Dadas expressed his displeasure and got off the floor when he was angry but very quickly their anger and disappointment were replaced by a sense of pride.

Hapoel Holon already led by 17 points during the fourth quarter, but it seemed that the team encountered a checkpoint, just as happened to the team bus when it reached (almost) the entire team hall before the game.

After the game, the chairman of Hapoel Holon, Eitan Lanciano, teased on Twitter: “We went back 20 years to the days when it was impossible to beat Maccabi, as if it were possible, but …”, wrote the chairman, who of course intended to sting the refereeing team. .

The bizarre story took place in the half of the game between Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Rishon Lezion, when the bus of Hapoel Holon with the staff asked to enter the parking lot through which you reach the entrance gate, only the rising checkpoint got stuck in the bus, which forced all bus passengers to walk the last 50 meters. By foot.

Back to the game. In Holonia, they were very encouraged by the way the team implemented the game plan. “We did things great,” the team said in reference to the defensive stops on Scotty Wilbkin scoring his first field goal of the game in the 24th minute.

Guy Pnini Thrower (Itzik Belnitsky)

Not only did Dadas’ trainees fight, they also managed to effectively limit Maccabi Tel Aviv’s first game in the first half. Holonia of course enjoyed a great evening by Guy Pnini (17 points) who simply refuses to finish. Guy was joined by Tyros Maggie with 21 points, CJ Harris with 18 and Isaiah Miles with 14 and the team concluded: “You can always do better.”

Guy Pnini He said after the game: “You saw what happened, Maccabi started to press, from that moment we made all the possible mistakes, they surprised us from it. The snowball started and it’s hard to stop it, in front of a team like Maccabi you pay in cash. I thought our game, I saw no power that could take “The game from us, we were with incredible energies, everything flowed and flowed, we scored in high percentages. This is the beauty of the sport, out of nowhere we got a shock. Unfortunately this time I am on the losing side.”

Stefanos Dadas (Itzik Belnitsky)

He added: “We were drained at the end, to say if we played in too short a rotation it is wisdom in retrospect, we played really well our game flowed and whoever was in rotation felt good with himself, usually in games like this you go with a short rotation, we fell off our feet and extended. When they started their stress we had to respond better and we did not. We are after a painful loss, I wish I could draw out what lessons we will have. We lost a title with a tremendous opportunity to advance to the finals, something huge for this club. It is difficult for me to answer what the lessons are for the future. “