Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s head coach David Blatt summarized the first round: “I think the entire system deserves praise.” About Mačvan: “His performance was extraordinary.”
By Amy Samin
After his team’s 83 – 72 victory over Asseco Prokom Gdynia, David Blatt, head coach of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv talked about the game.
“Even though it didn’t decide anything for us, we really wanted to win this game, and to play our basketball.
In the first half we were very good at both ends of the court – strong defense like we’ve played all season, and on offense we moved the ball extremely well.
Unfortunately, in the third and fourth quarters we weren’t at our best, but we did what needed to be done to get the win.
We’ve run into this problem several times already this season, where we take a big, early lead and then ease up.
I don’t think we’re going to have that problem in the Top 16.”
About the end of the first round, Blatt remarked, “We finished this round with the best record in Europe, 9 wins and 1 loss, and I think the entire system deserves praise.
There’s no title or special prize for an achievement like that, but it proves that our team has a direction and has shown commitment and perseverance.
It proves we’re a team that wants to win every game and to give its best for the fans and for the club; I’m very proud of that.”
Blatt also discussed his two centers, Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Milan Mačvan.
“Sofo had a great game tonight; he really came to work, just as he has been doing for most of the season.
This summer we promised you a big, serious player in the post, and I think we’ve kept that promise.
Regarding Mačvan, I think his performance tonight in his first game, after only two practices with the team, was extraordinary.
He did some nice things, he didn’t slow the rhythm of the team, and he has fit in really well into the fabric of the team.”
Chuck Eidson, who once again had an excellent evening, said, “It’s always hard to come into a game that you don’t really need to win, so it’s very important that we won this game.
We played hard, though we did ease up as time went on, but still we finished it as we should and didn’t disrespect the other team.
I think all the guys on the team are really proud, and all of our fans should be proud of us, that we finished the first round in a competition like the Euroleague with a 9 – 1 record.
It’s just fantastic.
Still, we need to remember that it’s just the first part of the season, and for the next round everyone is going in with a 0 – 0 record.
So we need to keep playing as hard as we can, because starting tomorrow our wonderful record will be gone and we’ll be starting everything from the beginning.”
Guy Pnini noted, “I’m happy about this win.
It’s a result of our playing hard from the beginning regardless of whether it was an important game for us or not.
Starting strong has characterized us all season and carried us to great places.
We play together, and you can see that we work for one another in our game; it’s fun to play like that.
Congratulations to all of my teammates on a wonderful first round, almost perfect.
Now we need to keep that momentum going in the next rounds.”
