Want to show that we are still a good team

Moshe Barda

Elijah Bryant (Courtesy of Zalgiris Kaunas)

Elijah Bryant (Courtesy of Zalgiris Kaunas)

Last night (Thursday), Maccabi Tel Aviv achieved its first double victory over Zalgiris since the 2014/15 season in the Euroleague, which was played in a completely different format than today. The national champions, who recorded 81:88 on the floor in Lithuania, complimented the players on the character they showed back from a double-digit deficit in the first quarter and a seven-point deficit during the final quarter.

Next week, Yannis Sapropoulos’ players will play twice in the Euroleague, when next Tuesday they will meet Barcelona, ​​in what will be the opening shot for the end of the regular season at the factory, with five games in ten days. “At first we were on the face,” said around the champion about the first quarter in which the Lithuanians escaped to a double-digit advantage. The Yellows were confident that the Lithuanians could have continued their escape, had it not been for Omri Caspi: “He changed the momentum and they did not run away because he was very good and assertive.” Martin Schiller’s trainees struggled to deal with the forward, emphasizing his play with the face to the basket.

Tyler Dorsey (Courtesy of Zalgiris Kaunas)Tyler Dorsey (Courtesy of Zalgiris Kaunas)

The victory was Maccabi’s 12th in 29 games, and the feelings about the balance are those of missing out and frustration that follows. “This team is worth more than it does. It’s a weird season,” the club explained, believing there are good players and a good coaching staff.

Dragon Bender, Who finished the game as the team’s leading scorer with 16 points, said after the game: “We played better and better as the game progressed, we won the last three quarters and kept concentration until the end, we made key moves to ensure the victory. It is very important for us. We know we’re out of the playoffs we want to fight the last five games, we want to show that we’re still a good team playing well and strong on both sides of the court no matter what, and we showed that in the game. We showed how to be tough on defense The proof of the team attack and how we should play in the next games. “

John Dibertolomao (Courtesy of Zalgiris Kaunas)John Dibertolomao (Courtesy of Zalgiris Kaunas)

Chris Jones, Finishing with 13 points, he added: “We had a good game on defense, we did not start well and it did not look good but we relaxed, we played great on defense in the crucial moments. The defense allowed us easy points in the transition and it helped us a lot on the offensive side, it made things easy for us. The company did a great job, executed, paid attention to detail and it was a good effort, especially after the game against Zero. We want to show people that no matter our position in the table or the results of whether we qualify for the playoffs or not, we will continue to fight the remaining games. We intend to give up, Maccabi has never been like this and we do not want to start now, the company just did a great job and we achieved a big away win no matter what our position in the table, it is a big win for us and it is good for the team. “

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