After an awesome fight in Nokia Arena on Thursday night, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv tied their series against Partizan Belgrade at 1 and 1. Coach Gershon said, “I was able to influence the team mentally; let’s hope it’s not too late.” Wisniewski added, “There’s a hot crowd waiting for us in Belgrade.”
By Amy Samin
Maccabi fought hard, especially on defense, and defeated Partizan 98 – 78 in Nokia Arena, tying the series between the two teams in the Euroleague quarterfinals at 1 and 1.
Next week, the team heads to Belgrade with one goal: to return the home court advantage to Tel Aviv.
David Bluthenthal had an excellent game with 17 points; Andrew Wisniewski scored the same amount, and D’or Fischer contributed 15.
“I was able to influence the team mentally; let’s hope it’s not too late,” said Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon after the game.
“I’ve been saying the same things since the start of the season, and it seems they needed a wake-up call in order to play this way.
They showed Serbia whose house this is.
We’re going to get the same thing there, and we can’t show weakness.
We need to play with the same intensity and steal a win there.
After we almost lost in Afula and after Tuesday night’s loss to Partizan, I don’t think I need to say much; just give reminders.”
“Nothing new happened.
We’re 1:1.
By the way, Real Madrid beat Barcelona (tonight) and that goes to show that we beat a strong team,” the coach added.
“Now we need to prove that the difference between the teams is twenty points, and they need to prove that the home court advantage is worth something.
Nothing has changed since the last game.
Go and check their percentages from three point range and take a look at our defense.
I think their coach is saving the zone defense for the upcoming games.”
Andrew Wisniewski, who was one of the top players in the game, said, “It was déjà vu all over again.
We led by fifteen at the half, but we learned our lesson from the last game, and this time we kept up the aggression and velocity for the whole forty minutes.
The atmosphere from the crowd was great, and we used it like we should.
We’ll need that energy in Belgrade.
I’ve played there many times and there’s a hot crowd waiting for us there.
We have to play our basketball.”
David Bluthenthal said, “I think we played like we did in game one the first half; we just didn’t do it then for forty minutes.
Tonight we did.”
When asked about the upcoming games in Belgrade, Bluthenthal said, “I think we have to do the exact same thing for forty minutes; make sure we stay calm, and continue to believe in ourselves.
It was a great night for us, and I think what made the difference was the intensity we showed at the start of the third quarter.”
“I think we’re a better team than them, and it’s just a matter of going on out and proving it.
We’re not scared of anybody on the road, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
Guy Pnini said, “We fell in the first game, that’s no secret.
They blasted us, and we fell back.
We’re headed now to Belgrade and there’s going to be quite a battle there.
It’s not going to be easy; we’re talking about a home court with a crazy atmosphere.
It’s time to prove how strong we are, and what kind of a team we have.”
D’or Fischer, when asked about the difference between the first game and the second in the series, said, “I was really down after the first game, and now obviously I’m very satisfied.
We gave away the first game, and now we’ve proved to everyone that we can do it.
That’s the difference. Tonight we played forty minutes.
Our goal was to not come out flat in the third quarter, but to come out with a lot of intensity, and we did that.”
In discussing the games next week in Belgrade, the center said, “I don’t about surprises, but we need to keep playing with the same aggression we showed tonight.
If we do that, I believe we’ll win.”
Losing coach Dusko Vujosevic said, “After the first game, Maccabi was more motivated and played with more aggression.
That’s what gave them the game.
We didn’t take enough rebounds today, we missed too many free throws and they capitalized on that with fast breaks.
We can learn a lot from this game.
It’s impossible to predict what will happen next in this series.”
“Obviously, we’re going to fix the mistakes we made,” the coach continued, “but Maccabi is a team with a lot of talent and it’s hard to know what will happen.
Usually, after two games like this, a win and a loss, we can go home to Belgrade satisfied.
The referees allowed a lot of contact today.
It’s a tough series, that’s the way it is, but there were times the referees allowed too much contact.”
