Blatt: “We played an outstanding game”

By Amy Samin

“Dan Shamir and I have been on the winning side together in many battles,” said David Blatt of the Holon coach after the game. “We also lost the Russian Cup final together. It’s no fun competing against friends, I don’t enjoy it. On the other hand, I did enjoy the game we played; we needed to play well and we did.”

“When you play against Holon you have to disrupt their game,” the coach went on. “We were able to do that. With our backs to the wall, we opened the second half with two three pointers and some free throws, and that changed the whole dynamic of the game. Holon was forced to chase us, and we’re not an easy team to catch.”

“We played an outstanding game,” Blatt continued. “It’s a sweet victory for many new Maccabi players, and an opportunity to go to the Final and compete for the title against another good team, Maccabi Rishon Lezion. The fact that we have another two days to prepare for that game will help us. I said in the locker room that David Federman, Udi Recanati, Shimon Mizrahi, and God – not necessarily in that order – arranged for us to have another day to prepare for this game [when the Adriatic League game last Saturday was cancelled]; otherwise I’m not sure we would have looked so good tonight.”

Regarding the injury suffered by Greek center Sofo Schortsanitis, Blatt said, “If I had another option I wouldn’t play Sofo, but I have no choice. I hope the injury tonight isn’t serious. Sofo has an ongoing problem with his knee; I’m sick of talking about it already. He plays because he’s tough and he wants to help his team.”

Devin Smith, who scored a season-high 20 points, said, “We had time to prepare, and the coaches prepared everything really well. We executed and translated over to the floor. They’re a tough team, and we came out and fought for forty minutes.”

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