Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv are back in the EuroLeague after three weeks, visiting Berlin to face ALBA on Thursday (9 PM Israel time, 2 PM ET). The yellows will look to carry their Israeli league winning streak into the European competition, with only 8 games left in the regular season.

Maccabi (13-13) flew over to the German capital and were joined there by John DiBartolomeo, who attended his grandmother’s funeral in the USA this week, and by Jasiel Rivero and Joe Thomasson who represented their national teams. Roman Sorkin will not play due to his knee injury, while Tamir Blatt will return to the Mercedes-Benz Arena for the first time since playing for ALBA.

“It’s always hard to know how we are going to react after a long break, but we are trying to do the most so that we start the game off well”, said head coach Oded Kattash, “It’s not a simple game against a rival who are much improved recently, specifically at home, and we can’t feel like we are favorites. We can’t miss any chance until the end of the season”.

The Germans are 5-21 heading into the game, and are ranked last in the EuroLeague in points scored and defensive rebounds. However, ALBA are one of the best ball-stealing teams in the competition and are expected to have forward Louis Olinde back after a long absence.