The Yellow & Blue summarized the dominant win in the Tel Aviv derby. Sfairopoulos: “We deserved to win this game by a thousand percent”. Wilbekin: “When we have a lead like that, it’s hard not to enjoy the game”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv marked their second derby win this season, beating Hapoel Tel Aviv on their home court, 85:69. The Yellow & Blue held a double-digit advantage midway through the second quarter and never looked back, dominating the Reds throughout all four quarters, improving their Israeli League record to 7:2.
Scottie Wilbekin was electric, knocking down 4 three-pointers, scoring 18 points in the first twenty minutes. The American guard concluded the night with 23 points, as Yovel Zoosman produced a fantastic performance with 13 points. Othello Hunter and Ante Zizic controlled the paint, Oz Blayzer and Angelo Caloiaro canceled the opponent’s forwards as 7 Yellow & Blue players scored at least 8 points.
“I’m very happy how we reacted to Friday’s game. The derby is never an easy game, but we were in control throughout the whole contest with a double-digit margin”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos after the dominant win. “We deserved to win this game by a thousand percent. We shot well because we served the ball well, and we read them well, finding the best options. This is how I want us to play until the end of the season with the same concentration and determination”.
“We want to win all of the games, but players are human, and there will be nights they won’t play well. That’s normal, but as for our mentality, I want us to fight all the time, as we played tonight”.
Sfairopoulos described the team’s plans for the rest of the week with the uncertainty surrounding Thursday’s EuroLeague against Khimki Moscow: “This year is strange, we don’t know if they can come and play us. I was told that if we don’t play that game, we will play a total of 3 Israeli League games in five days, and as for right now, we don’t know what games we will have”.
Scottie Wilbekin, who was lights out with 23 points, said after the win: “We didn’t want to lose twice in a row, so we came out and played better. We told ourselves to just focus on the game, not stuff that can affect the game on the court, and only control what we can control. When we have a lead like that, it’s hard not to enjoy the game, and everybody was playing well, so everything was working today”.
