Maccabi Takes Off for Croatia

By Amy Samin

Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv flew to Croatia today (Tuesday) in preparation for Thursday evening’s (18:30) Euroleague Group A opener against Cibona Zagreb.
The team’s Chairman of the Board, Shimon Mizrahi, who watched Tau Ceramica’s 80 – 70 victory over Fenerbahce Ulker in Monday’s festive season opener, will join the team in Zagreb.

Maccabi’s newest player, guard Marcus Brown, took part in his first team practice today and is ready for the team’s first challenge on Thursday.
“I’m excited, and I believe the other players are, too.
It’s hard to say what needs to be improved after just one practice, but this is a great group of guys.
We’ll work hard on defense and offense; we’ve got great players, and it won’t be a problem.
Anyway, you don’t take the championship at the start of the season; it’s more important how you finish it.”

Head coach Efy Birenboim had this to say about his first game coaching in the Euroleague: “We still need to get ready for this game.
We’re traveling early enough to be able to do that.
We really hope to get off on the right foot; we’ll make every effort, and we know everyone is with us.
A victory doesn’t erase anything, it just brings happiness.”

Just before take off, Carlos Arroyo said:
“We played today with Marcus Brown; he’s a great player and I expect to play a lot with him this season.
I believe that the chemistry among all of our players will be amazing.
We’re going to work hard to come together as a team as quickly as possible.”
About the upcoming game in Zagreb, Arroyo said, “We’ve watched a video of Cibona; we are going to give every team in the Euroleague the respect it deserves.
We’re going to put up a fight in every game.
I’m very excited about our first Euroleague game, and I’m excited that the season has started.
I want to play league games, not “friendly” games.
No more excuses.
Now it’s time to play basketball.”

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