Carlos Arroyo: “When the time is right, we’ll be ready”

After last night’s defeat at the hands of CSKA, Arroyo said, “Today, you didn’t see us as we really are.
We need to be strong after a game like that, and learn from it.
Fortunately, it was just a pre-season game.
I don’t think we have fallen below the level of play of the other teams in this tournament.
When the time is right, we’ll be ready.”

Sharp said, “We’re still not in shape.
In another month this team will look totally different.
We’re not below the level of any team.
We were tired in the second half of last night’s game.
We’ll take the good parts of the first half, and we’ll learn from the second half.”

Rodney White, who last night played for the first time wearing the yellow jersey of Maccabi, added, “CSKA’s a good team, and luckily this game wasn’t part of the regular season.
We started off slow in the third quarter, and CSKA just did their thing.
I was really tired in the second half.
I only had one day of practice before the game; I felt like my battery was wearing down.
But we’re in good shape.
The team needs me to be aggressive, they believe in me and that’s why they signed me.
I’m going to work hard, and we’ll be better.
We want to improve every day.
No excuses, but we’re going to grow from this experience.”

Esteban Batista commented, “We lost focus.
We need to look ahead to the future, and find our game.
We’ll learn; today was the first time the whole team played together.
It’s the start of the season, and there are a lot of new players to get used to.
We have to look to the future, because then the competition will be real.”

Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim said, “In general, we need to work hardest on team chemistry.
Every game we play, we’re learning to work together on the court, player to player and as a whole; whether you’re subbing in for someone or coming onto the court together as a team after a time out.
Some of the players just joined the team a couple of days ago; Rodney played tonight for the first time.
We’re coming together.
It’s hard to come together when you’re playing against teams of this caliber, but we’re doing it.
The good things are that we led, and controlled the game, at one point.
Some of the players lost their energy during halftime, but that’s not a reason for the loss.
We didn’t play well in the second half, and we’ll have to learn from that,”

About the tournament in general, Efy said, “Maccabi Tel Aviv is a great club, and when you’re invited to a tournament like this one, the best in Europe, you don’t say no. We’ll learn from this tournament; like they say, it was a trial by fire.
Messina and Obradovic gave a workshop for coaches, and they always say that the chemistry isn’t good enough.
If they need to learn, then obviously we do, too.”

“I feel very comfortable at Maccabi,” continued Birenboim.
“They immediately got me involved in things.
When you come to a prestigious tournament like this one, the atmosphere changes everything.
You have to be nicely dressed, and your position demands a certain kind of conduct;

but on the other hand, when you’re in the locker room, or during time out, and you need to fire up your players, the behavior is the same.”

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