The Israeli champions summarized the defeat in the southern capital, which closed out the second round of games. Sfairopoulos: “We need to continue and be ready for the next series of games”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv concluded the second round of the Israeli Winner League on a sour taste after a 79:93 road defeat to Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Despite the loss, the Israeli champions finished the second round in first place with a 19:5 record as they know that the crucial part of the season is ahead of them. The Yellow & Blue were missing their usual firepower after resting Scottie Wilbekin, Ante Zizic, Othello Hunter before the next stage of the domestic season.
Chris Jones led the Maccabi scorers with 19 points, Angelo Caloiaro contributed 17 points and 7 rebounds, while Dragan Bender finished the evening with 14 points. Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad will begin the preparations for the top division, which will start on Tuesday against Hapoel Haifa at Menora Mivtachim Arena.
“I want to congratulate Be’er Sheva, they were the better team tonight, wanting the game more as we couldn’t stop Agada, who had 43 points”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos after the loss. “We finished the second round in first place, and from here, we need to continue and be ready for the next series of games”.
About the approach coming into games in the domestic league: “We don’t come in to lose games, we try to win all of them by preparing the team the best we can. Sometimes it doesn’t go our way, the Israeli Winner League is very competitive”.
“It was difficult as a team to play against a tough squad like Be’er Sheva and a guy scoring 43 points on us. We have to get better”, Added Chris Jones, who finished as Maccabi’s top scorer with 19 points. “The closer you get to the playoffs, the better basketball you want to play. We got to go back and reevaluate to get it better”.
