After beating Virtus, the yellows will attempt to complete a perfect double week in front of 20,000 fans in Stark Arena (9:30 PM Israel Time, 2:30 PM ET)
Two days after beating Virtus Bologna in Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv will skip to a different venue in Belgrade for another EuroLeague challenge. The yellows are due to visit Partizan Belgrade in Stark Arena in front of 20,000 fans on Friday (9:30 PM Israel Time, 2:30 PM ET) as part of gameday 21.
The Serbs are the only team that Maccabi hosted in Tel Aviv before the war began, when the Israeli champs won 96-81 in the season opener. Since then, Zeljko Obradovic’s team made some changes, bringing in guard Jaleen Smith and center Bruno Caboclo, while guard Aleksa Avramovic suffered a serious injury and is out.
Partizan are led by swingman Kevin Punter, who accounts for nearly 15 points per game. Maccabi’s rivals are 10-10 after 4 losses in their previous five games, while the Maccabees are 12-8.
“Now is the time to show that we learned something from last week”, said head coach Oded Kattash, referring to the loss at Fenerbahce a week ago, “We have another big game, a tough one. We have to make sure that we come with the right energies unlike last week”.
