The Israeli champions summarized a strong performance in the city capital. Sfairopoulos: “We won all four periods, and we deserved to win the game”. Blayzer: “Winning is the most important thing for me, I came here to win and take titles”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv’s four-game Israeli League road stretch started with a bang on Monday night, beating Hapoel Jerusalem 100:74. The Israeli champions improved their domestic record to 18:3 as the next matchup comes next week on Monday against Gilboa/Galil.
The Yellow & Blue were in complete control from tip-off forcing the Reds to take hard shots, while on the other end, Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad took advantage for easy fastbreak points and high percentage shots from behind the arc.
Scottie Wilbekin led the scorers knocking down 6 three-pointers for a total of 24 points while adding 4 assists. Ante Zizic controlled the paint, scoring 20 points (6/6 2P) and grabbing 5 rebounds as Elijah Bryant contributed 19 points and 4 boards.
״It was important to come back to the Israeli league with the right mentality, and we were ready to play this game. I want to congratulate the players on the win, not only for the victory but also for their performance”, Complimented head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos. “We knew Jerusalem was going to react after the coaching change, but with good concentration and defense, we allowed a low number of points in the first periods, which brought the game to our standards”.
“On the offensive end, we had good ball movement balancing the inside and outside game. We won all four periods, and we deserved to win the game. Now we have some time to rest and practice, as we can improve some aspects of the game and play much better”.
The Yellow & Blue coach continued to praise his players: “I want to give extra credit to Scottie (Wilbekin), who woke up with neck spasms, and he was questionable for the game. He showed the fighter he is. I’d also want to praise T.J. (Cline) and (Oz) Blayzer, who fought for the team pushing hard to get rebounds”.
“We have a lot of motivation now that we finished the EuroLeague, and we have two huge goals ahead of us, winning the State Cup and the Israeli League”, Said Oz Blayzer about Maccabi’s motive from now on. “Seeing the fans that came out on the road to support us was great. We knew before the game that the mental side would give us the game, and they pushed us with that”.
The Israeli forward added his most important reason for joining Maccabi: “Winning is the most important thing for me, I came here to win and take titles. I have no problem doing the dirty work, as points are just extra”.
