Maccabi’s first win in the Top 16. Anderson (who was outstanding with 20 points) said, “The fans gave us amazing energy.” D’or Fischer added, “Everyone played with heart and soul.”
By Amy Samin
All season the fans of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv have been waiting for them to play a game like they did last night (Thursday).
Maccabi defeated Real Madrid 81 – 76 and enjoyed their first victory in the Euroleague Top 16 this season.
Alan Anderson and Chuck Eidson were outstanding.
It was only Pini Gershon’s second victory over his longtime rival Ettore Messina.
After the game, Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon said, “I would be happy if I didn’t have to say anything; I’d love to see what all of you (reporters) would write tomorrow.
We’ve already said all there is to say.
We won a very important game tonight.
I really enjoyed Messina saying it was an important game, and we won it.
We also had a good game against CSKA.
The players that were supposed to be good were good, on both sides of the court.
If they hadn’t sent them (Madrid) to the line 19 times in the second half, the lead would have been bigger, but you can’t ask for everything.”
“I already said, before this game, that is was entirely likely that all of the teams would win at home.
Our game next week is no less difficult, and no less important.
I hope we will play against Pilsen at least as well as we did tonight, if not better.
Alan Anderson said yesterday that we can beat any team, anywhere, and tonight he put his money where his mouth is.”
“Both the players and the coaches have to take it up a notch.
I told everyone before the game tonight that it was going to be an important game and we should enjoy it.
Most importantly, aside from the crowd, is when I look at the faces of the management and see that we’ve done something they didn’t expect. There was an atmosphere of a huge game, but we have to also remember that although we won a battle the war is much longer.”
Alan Anderson, who was game MVP and led scorers with 20 points, said, “We just played for forty minutes.
Even in the beginning when we missed shots, they were good shots and we kept playing hard.
We knew we had to play well the whole game because Real Madrid isn’t a team that gives up easily.
The crowd is a huge plus for the team and for me personally.
I was tired and I heard them shouting, so I told myself I had to keep going for the fans.”
D’or Fischer, who finished with 14 points in his best game this season said, “Coach did a great job on tactics.
Everyone played with a lot of heart and soul.
I don’t think I didn’t have much energy until tonight.
It’s been a tough period for me, and I hope this game will help get me back into a good rhythm.
We have a really tough game next Thursday, and we haven’t done anything yet.”
Doron Perkins added, “Players made shots and everyone outdid themselves.
I feel more self-confident and I’m getting more minutes on the court.
It took me a while to get into the game, and I have a lot more to show, but I’m happy to take responsibility as point guard and want to score more points.”
“No one thought we could beat Real Madrid and they got hung up on the game against Siena, but we didn’t.
We wanted a win and we believed in ourselves that we could win.
Maybe we could make a deal with the media: you say that we can’t win, put it in the headlines, and that will challenge us even more and make us want the win that much more.”
“Defense, intensity, the rotation and the media is what won us the game,” said David Bluthenthal.
“This is the time you want to outdo yourself.
It’s the time to be in great shape.
Celebrations?
We haven’t done anything yet.
It’s definitely a big win but we still have a long way to go.
We need to get back to work.”
Raviv Limonad said, “We kept up the pace that we needed, we kept things fast and didn’t let them slow the game down.
We were aggressive on defense and that’s what helped us win.
We need to keep doing that in the games to come.”
Ettore Messina, head coach of Real Madrid, said, “I want to congratulate Maccabi on a big win in a tough game.
My players worked hard and they didn’t give up.
At the end of the game, the point difference could have been a lot bigger; at least we managed to bring it down to 5 points.”
“We had a hard time against the penetrations of Anderson and Perkins.
It was a good game, and we need to move on to the next one.
I think the three point shots were the key for us.
We usually make 40% of our three point shots, but this time the shots didn’t fall for us.
We should have been more patient on offense and taken advantage of the mismatches we had under the basket.”
