Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s head coach said after winning the League Cup: “We’re ready. We have good reason to be happy.” Eliyahu: “It’s always tough against Jerusalem at Malha Arena.” (Photos: BSL)
By Amy Samin
“We have good reason to be happy,” said Maccabi’s head coach David Blatt after the game.
“We were just wonderful in the first half.
Jerusalem was great in the third quarter.
Oded’s (Oded Katash, head coach of Hapoel) teams are usually excellent in the third quarter.
It’s not easy to play in Malha Arena.
We’ve won the tournament after not winning it for the last few years.
For this point in the season we look just fine.
We’re ready.”
“Teams can learn what it is they want; the question is what are we learning?” said Blatt in reference to a question about future opponents.
“I’ve learned a lot from the game tonight.”
“We made things hard on ourselves in the second half.
We weren’t aggressive enough, and we paid for it dearly.
I’m happy we showed character and were able to pull out the win,” added Lior Eliyahu.
“We’ll take the first half from this game.
We knew it would be tough.
The arena was full of Hapoel fans.
It’s always tough to play against Hapoel Jerusalem at Malha Arena.”
Guy Pnini said, “We played against a good team on their home court.
We’ve finished up a great week.
We saw players in better shape playing with better ability.
We’re happy to have our first title; it’s one of the goals we set for ourselves.
We want to continue in the same way.”
“In the second half Jerusalem was a lot more aggressive than we were and it was only at the end that we were able to open up the lead,” said co-captain Tal Burstein.
“We’re working very hard, even in practices.
We still have a lot of things to improve, including coordination on defense and on offense.
The guys are eager and hungry, and I feel great.
I’m in good shape thanks to playing for the National Team (over the summer).
We’re trying to run as much as we can and find one another on the court.”
Game MVP Jeremy Pargo said, “I just want to win, I don’t care how many points I score.
The goal is to win, and we have a great team for that.
I’m learning a lot with Maccabi and having a great time.”
“Jerusalem is an excellent team.
We were more focused at the end of the game, and we got the win” concluded Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
