Tonight (24 Oct) Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv will hold their first home Euroleague game of the 2013-14 season, when they host Crvena Zvezda Telekom (Red Star) Belgrade. Hickman: “We’re ready for the challenge.”
By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv will play host to Crvena Zvezda Telekom (Red Star) Belgrade tonight (24 October) in the second round of the Euroleague regular season. It will be the first time this year that team will play in front 11,500 singing, cheering, flag-waving fans on their home court.
At a pre-game press conference held last night, Maccabi’s head coach David Blatt said, “We have a very important game ahead of us, and at this stage of the season every victory is crucial – certainly on our home court – because our group is a very strong one and a close one. The teams in our group are more or less equal, and so we really need to win this game. Tonight we practiced with the full roster, one of the few times we’ve done so since the season started.”
About his team’s preparations for the game, Blatt said, “Over the last few days we’ve worked on little, but important, things that can help us on offense. Smith will be playing, Hickman is doing better, and if we can improve our percentages and play defense the way we did in the second half of our game against Maccabi Haifa, then our situation will be better. Red Star is a very good team that has made great progress over the last two years. They were once a top level team, and they want to get back to that position. This year they’ve added three American players, not an easy thing to do in Serbia.”
“Every season, everywhere, and certainly in Maccabi, there are times when things go well and times when they don’t,” Blatt continued. “When you lose a game you shouldn’t have lost, it leads to a lot of noise and reactions from around you. That’s just the way it goes. We’ve started all over again this year, and although things didn’t get off to a good start, we mustn’t lose our way. We are coming to this game against Red Star ready to play our kind of basketball.”
Ricky Hickman: “It’s a big game for us. Everyone’s going to have to step up. We’re going to have to play harder and better, and to dominate on offense. Plus, it’s time we started using the advantages we have, to use the big guys, play hard on defense, take control on rebounds and run more fast breaks. We need to keep working hard, stay calm and not feel the pressure, and just play basketball. Red Star is a good team, but we’re ready for the challenge.”
