Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv 
Barcelona Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Barcelona
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
"This is a very important and difficult game"
Coach Giannis Sfairopoulos before the game against Barcelona: "We want to play with high energy because this is a very demanding game". Michael Roll: "If we don't take care of business at the home court then the road wins don't mean as much"
“This is a very important and difficult game”, said coach Sfairopoulos. “I think it’s a difficult game for both teams, we play against Barcelona that
have five wins in a row in the EuroLeague and they are first in the Spanish league, so at this moment they are in a great shape and we need to be very concentrated and ready to follow the plan and all the things that we’ve practiced and watched film how to play against them, and for sure we want to play with high energy because this is a very demanding game. As far as I know the fans will fill up the gym and that’s very important and this make us happy because we will have our fans to support us in this difficult game that we have”.“If we don’t take care of business at the home court then the road wins don’t mean as much that’s for sure”, said Michael Roll. “It was a great team win in Moscow so we need to apply the same things to get this win at home. I hope we’re gonna have a better week that’s for sure but two wins is always a great thing absolutely, we’re playing great right now and we hope to continue on Thursday. That’s something we’ve been preaching the whole time to take it game by game try to get as many wins ads possible and if we can get a streak going that’ll be great so we’re just focusing on Thursday, we’re not worried about what happened in the past or what’s coming in the future. We need to stick together as a team it’s been really solid team wins, everybody pitched in from all of the 12 men on the bench and the guys in the stands and it’s been impressive”.
“We just need to have good preparation good practice and get ready for the game, it’s important to me and T.B (i.e. Tarik Black) to do a good job on them and that’s a whole team effort it’s not only us, the bigs need to help the guards, the guards need to help the bigs but I think if we can do those things defensively we’ll be able to win at home. It’s great to have Pargo back, bringing that experience he’s a great playmaker and he can score so that’s another weapon for us”.
Maccabi's all-around performance secures impressive win over Barcelona
An amazing second and third quarters gave Maccabi a comfortable lead as they secured the 99:83 home win
Coach Sfairopoulos’ starting five: Wilbekin, Kane, Caloiaro, O’Bryant and Black. Johnny scored a corner three as Maccabi took the early 7:2 lead. Pangos scored from deep but Kane and Black reacted fast on offense as Black scored a layup enroute of an 11:5 lead. Tomic and Hanga completed a 5:0 run to come within a striking distance. Hanga gave the edge to Barcelona but it was short lived as John-Di and Caloiaro made it 16:14. Roll increased Maccabi’s lead but Seraphin had the final say in the first quarter with the scoreboard showing 23:20.
Zoosman’s great hustle resulted with a wing three by John-Di as the locals’ increased their lead at the beginning of the second quarter (26:20). Wilbekin’s back to back threes made it 32:25. Coach Sfairopoulos’ squad found their rhythm on offense enroute of a 45:27 lead with 04:09 remaining in the first half. The yellow and blue offense fired on all cylinders delivering blow after blow taking the 52:31 lead. John-Di delivered the final dagger in the first half as Maccabi takes the crushing 57:35 lead.
The yellow nation saw their team roaring at the beginning of the third quarter smothering the Catalans on defense while floating and stinging time and again on the offensive end as they increased their lead to 74:40 lead. Heurtel scored from deep but Black kept Maccabi’s lead above 30 (79:45). Maccabi’s fluidity on offense could not be denied in the third quarter as the yellows enter the fourth quarter with an amazing 85:52 lead.
Barcelona started the fourth quarter with a 14:0 run to make it 85:66. The yellows struggled to score and the visitors capitalized as they trimmed Maccabi’s lead to 85:72. Black scored five points to put Maccabi ahead 90:72 with 05:07 remaining in the game. Barcelona tried to make another as they trimmed Maccabi’s lead to 94:79 but Maccabi’s great ball movement found Roll for an open three forcing coach Pesic to call for a timeout (97:79). Pangos made both of his free throws but Maccabi took the 99:83 impressive home win.
