Maccabi’s coach after the 111:102 win over Milan on the road: “We controlled the game for the most part”, Kane: “It was a great team effort”
Coach Spahija: “I think it is very difficult to win here because lately, Milan has been playing way better basketball than in the beginning of the season. We controlled the game for the most part but had, let’s say, five or six minutes in which we lost it and they came back. Overall, I think we played good basketball and I hope we will play better defense in the future that is all. I said before the game that every game is important. Now, it is money time and every game counts.”
Coach Spahija added: “After a long time, I am back in Milan and I am very happy to be here, especially after winning the game. I have to give credit to my team and what they did offensively, but I still think we need to play way better defense if we want to make another step this season. We controlled maybe 90% of the game, and it is not easy to play against anybody and control the game 100% of the time. Milan has an amazing roster, with so much talent, and they have been playing better lately. We lost the focus; we played with a short rotation tonight and players were probably tired. We had six turnovers in the last quarter and 12 in the entire game. This is a big reason why they came back”.
Norris Cole: “It was just good to get the win. It was a competitive game, a high-paced game but we stuck together and came through for each other. I am just leading my guys, trying to be a leader. We needed this win and my teammates did a great job fighting, setting good screens for me, rebounding the ball. We played as a team tonight and when the time came for me to lead and step up, I was able to do that.”
Alex Tyus: “We’ve made a lot of big shots, it was a high scoring game, sometimes it’s one of those nights and we kept scoring, we got a couple of stops at the end our defense came through we fought hard with our heart till the end even though they came back and made some runs”.
DeAndre Kane: “It was a great team effort, I think we had a great week of practice and it showed in the game, it was a very important for us to get one on the road and to try and keep that eighth spot. We really wanted to come here and impose our will to get the win”.
Kane addressed what made the difference in the second half: “The first five minutes, we talked about it, we always have nice leads going into halftime and then we somehow start off the third quarter slow so we really wanted to come out in the first five minutes and stay in the game come out for those guys, we knew they’ll make a run, they have good guys who can make tough shots in tough moments but we stuck with it and DT (DeShaun) hit huge shots, Cole hit some huge shots and it was a good team effort”.
