The Yellow & Blue summarized the win in Catalonia’s capital. Sfairopoulos: “We gave everything we had to win the game”. Bender: “This is a huge win”. Dorsey: “A lot of credit to coach for building this game plan, it really worked for us”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv recorded a hard-fought 68:67 win over Barcelona in the Palau Blaugrana, registering their first triumph in 15 years in Catalonia’s capital. Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad displayed an impressive defensive contest, staying within striking range throughout all 40 minutes. In the final moments, the Yellow & Blue showed a lot of fighting spirit, ramping it up defensively, defeating the EuroLeague standings leaders after Scottie Wilbekin dished an alley hoop pass to Othello Hunter slammed it down for the win.
Sarunas Jasikevicius’s star-studded roster couldn’t stop Dragan Bender, who finished with 15 points as Tyler Dorsey added 14 points. Othello Hunter contributed 10 points and five rebounds, Elijah Bryant scored 10 points and five assists.
“I think today we played great defensively as it’s not easy to stop Barcelona on 67 points at their home court”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos after the win. “The effort we showed tonight gave us a chance to win as we had clear minds to take good ideas on both ends of the floor, giving everything we had to win the game”.
“The first half was slow-paced scoring-wise, but in the second half, both teams got it going a little bit more”, Analyzed Scottie Wilbekin how the game shifted towards the final minutes of the contest. “We just tried to dig down, get stops, especially in the last possession as Othello did a good job playing defense. In a one-point game, the small details rebound here, free throws there, judges the game”.
Dragan Bender, who scored a EuroLeague career-high 15 points, spoke about the Yellow & Blue performance: “Happy we won the game, we had a tough week after losing Wednesday’s game, we came out motivated to win this one tonight. From the first moment, we were aggressive, and we deserve to win. We definitely have to improve some things, close the quarters better, and be smarter, but this is a huge win for us. We deserved this win after a couple of losses like this one earlier this season, so it’s definitely great to win one like this”
“Another tough game on the road, we kept fighting as a team, and I’ll give a lot of credit to coach for building this game plan as it really worked for us”, Said Tyler Dorsey about the keys for victory. “We stuck to it defensively with all of the switching and everything he planned for us at the beginning of the game. It’s a good win for us, but we got to continue this as we have many games at home, and we will continue to fight. We deserve this one after a lot of close game losses”.
