By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv racked up their first away victory in the Euroleague last night, 86 – 72 over Air Avellino, bringing them that much closer to a spot in the Top 16.
Once again, Lior Eliyahu was excellent (18 points, 10 assists), and Yaniv Green was also outstanding (14 and 7); but after a rare poor showing by Carlos Arroyo, it was Marcus Brown who stepped up and took charge, scoring 26.
After the game, Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon said, “It’s an important win, one that advanced our position.
We did the work we needed to do.
We could have played a better game, but some of the players didn’t perform as we’d expected.
Still, it was a nice win.
We scored 48 in the first half; at that rate we should have had a final score of 95 points.
But we played a more tactical game in the second half in order to ensure the win, and that’s natural.”
As is his custom, Pini offered up several wisecracks, this time at the expense of Arroyo, who finished the game 1 for 11 from the field.
“If I were stronger, I would do something to Carlos, but I’m scared because he would hit me back.”
“Because some of the players got into foul trouble, and we didn’t have others to fill those spots, we had to slow our game down a little,” added the coach.
“We were able to neutralize some of their players through fouls.
We stayed with most of our players, except for Tal (Burstein) who made a good foul.”
“We played well, and I’m really, really happy about this win,” said Lior Eliyahu. “A lot of the pressure we felt before the game has been lifted from us because we channeled it into this win.
This was a really important victory.
I think we played well together as a team.
A lot of players contributed points – big points: Yaniv, D’or, and of course Marcus Brown.
It was exactly the win we needed.”
Maccabi’s assistant coach Sharon Drucker, who perhaps could also be considered the team’s lucky charm because since he joined the team they’ve won three straight games (Cibona, Rishon Le-Zion and Avellino), said, “Very early on in the game we saw that our strategy was working.
Their percentages from outside the arc were very low, and we showed great teamwork, especially on defense.”
“The team was outstanding.
This was a critical game for us, and they responded accordingly.
Without bragging, if we had executed better on offense we could have punished them with fast breaks and finished the game with 95 or 100 points.
Even without that, we got a nice 14 point victory away from our home court.”
Team captain Derrick Sharp added, “It’s a lot of fun to win an away game.
We’re improving.
We came ready for this game.
We’re building confidence and showing it.
We’re starting to believe in ourselves and our coach; we’re starting to have fun on the court.
Everybody’s fighting, and the result is a victory away from home.”
Yaniv Green said, “I’m in good shape, and I’m getting opportunities.
I’m happy that I can contribute to the team.
I came of age in
I know things take time.
I waited for my chance, and I’m glad I took it.”
About the game, the center remarked, “We led for the whole game.
At the end we widened the gap.
We deserved the win, and the guys did a good job.”
Maccabi’s chairman of the board, Shimon Mizrahi, said, “It’s nice to win away from home, and this wasn’t just any win, but a very, very important one.
You saw the great teamwork from the start of the game; I’m really happy about it.
Since Pini arrived, you can see how motivated the team is, and the opportunities he has given players like Yaniv Green and Lior Eliyahu to play.”
