The bad Euroleague season that Maccabi Tel Aviv is going through came tonight (Tuesday), to its lowest moment, when the Yellows were defeated 66:90 against Anadolu Efes at Menora Mivtachim Hall. This is in fact the Yellows’ biggest home loss ever in a European setting, and it comes precisely when the crowd finally got to return to the hall he so missed.
Yannis Sapropoulos: “As you saw tonight we tried to fight, but it was not enough. We knew they had high quality in every position, with a lot of players in their best shape. For me it was very important how we opened the game because they open the best game in the Euroleague, and we saw 2 “Their last 3 games they opened a 25-point gap in the first quarter.”
“They opened a small gap in the first quarter, and in the second quarter we missed some layups under the basket and that opened the gap. At the beginning of the second half we tried to play better on defense, we developed good momentum, but after the timeout we tried to fight. They have quality, it’s not that we fought, we wanted but we could not. We will continue, we will reach the league games and we will want to play better in the Euroleague as well. “
“We will talk to the players, we will want to show better, we must continue to fight. You can’t succeed all the time, you can’t succeed every season. We did not manage to qualify, but we want to continue, we want to fight every game. I’m not saying we did not fight, it’s not like in Oaka we gave up. Today we fought, and at some point it was 30 difference, and we lowered the difference a bit. It is important for us to fight in the Euroleague and to be aggressive in the league and the cup as well. I feel bad with the fact that this is the biggest loss in Europe at home. I always say I want them to fight the hardest. This is a bad moment for the club, we will do our best not to let it happen again. “
“In the Euroleague there is different momentum, we had a period where in 11 games we won seven. We are currently in a bad period, we played against them in the first round and they were completely different with almost the same players. Sometimes there is luck in catching a team with bad momentum to win, and sometimes luck is reversed. No team in the Euroleague will play great basketball for 10 months, it all depends on the momentum. They have quality players, and they are very experienced. “
“Some of the players need to play better, I don’t blame them for not playing better, they want to play well, they are human beings. Some are just not in good shape. They work every day, twice a day. This also happened to zero at the beginning of the season. We need to get through that bad momentum, but it’s happening, and it’s not that they care. They are trying. “
On the other hand, Argin Atman Was of course very pleased: “We played perfect basketball again, even now in the locker room I told the players it was great. We played very good defense, controlled the rebound, responded the ball well, attacked very well with Larkin and Mitch, and also in pick and roll, spacing “Excellent, great basketball. I am very satisfied. I think step by step we are getting closer to our goal. It is not easy, but we are on our way there.”
See that at the beginning of the year we were completely different. I was not motivated, I was angry at the Euroleague that canceled the season. The Champions League is back, even the FIBA Champions League is back, but in the Euroleague we did not care about the effort we made. With all due respect to Corona, and the situation, I think it was easier to play in the summer than to play this season with more impact on the Corona. “But step by step with our president, with our family, they pushed us, Larkin came back after a long injury, the players are back in good shape, and I think we are in good motivation and playing better than last season.”