The Yellow & Blue summarized the disappointing loss to the red hot Anadolu squad. Sfairopoulos: “We wanted and tried, but we played against an excellent opponent. We need to keep on fighting”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv aspired to finish the Anadolu Efes incredible run on Tuesday evening, but Ergin Ataman’s squad showed why they are among the top EuroLeague teams these days, beating the Yellow & Blue 66:90 in Menora Mivtachim Arena. With the loss, Maccabi’s chances of clinching a spot between the top 8 slimmed another notch dropping their EuroLeague season record to 11:17.
Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad had only three scorers in double digits tonight as Scottie Wilbekin finished the night with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Ante Zizic contributed 14 points, 6 boards, as Tyler Dorsey scored 10 points off the bench. The Israeli champions return to the Israeli Winner League on Thursday as they’ll head out on the road to compete against Guy Goodes’s Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion.
“We tried to fight, but it wasn’t enough. They have a lot of quality at many positions, and now they have players playing their best form this season”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos at the postgame press conference. “They got the lead in the first period, and when we lost some layups under the rim in the second quarter, the lack of effectiveness gave them a chance to open a bigger margin. In the second half, we came back to ten points, we tried to fight after the timeout, but it wasn’t enough. I don’t think we didn’t try, we wanted, but we played against an excellent opponent”.
The Greek coach referred to the continuation of the season: “We will try to do our best. We discussed that now with the players that we need to keep on fighting. We probably didn’t succeed at qualifying to the top 8, but we have to continue. We have to be ready for the Israeli league and the Cup final”.
The Yellow & Blue captain John DiBartolomeo expressed his feelings after the game: “It hurts, disappointing and frustrating. “Obviously, we feel that we can play much better and how we played doesn’t accurately reflect who we are. We need to get better every day and look at ourselves to be better. We need to stay positive and stay together”.
“We all put our shorts the same way, they played really well tonight, winning 8 of their last 10, so they are in good shape”, Added Elijah Bryant about the opponents’ recent form. “I always feel we have a chance every time we step on the floor. We’re all competitors, and we go out on the court to win regardless of the situation. We could have played better, but they shot over 50% from three and played better tonight”.
