The Yellow & Blue summarized the road win over Baskonia. Sfairopoulos: “We controlled the rhythm of the game”. Hunter: “Everybody fought hard for the win”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv pulled out a 67:63 win over Saski Baskonia in Vitoria, Spain, as part of the 13th EuroLeague fixture. After a tremendous defensive display, Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad started the impressive comeback midway through the second quarter.
Othello Hunter led the rally with great play on both ends of the court, Chris Jones provided 10 points, and 4 rebounds as Yovel Zoosman made his EuroLeague season debut. Tyler Dorsey finished as the Yellow & Blue’s top scorer with 15 points and grabbed a clutch offensive rebound in the late minutes.
“I want to congratulate our players for the good game we played tonight, especially on the defensive end”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos after the road victory. “Baskonia is a good offensive team, and we knew before if we won’t play defense, we wouldn’t have a chance. We followed our game plan, and we had our best defensive game so far”.
“Allowing only 9 points in the fourth quarter was very important. Baskonia’s best scoring quarter, especially here at home, is the fourth”, Added Sfairopoulos about the keys for the win. “Offensively, I think we moved the ball, played smart, tried to attack their defensive weak spots. We controlled the rhythm of the game, and that was very important”.
“We did everything the right way tonight after we had some games in the past that we lost in the last minute”, Explained the Yellow & Blue coach. “We were very concentrated, especially at the end in the crucial moments”.
“We all played great defense, and we tried to get back to the Maccabi style of basketball”, Said Othello Hunter. “Everybody fought hard for the win, that’s all that matters. We wanted to come in here and try to fight. We got a great team, and we just did what we have to do”.
“I would say the stops we were getting were the key for us”., Told Tyler Dorsey, who finished as Maccabi’s top scorer with 15 points. “We had a game plan coming into the game. Other than Fall, we controlled everybody else, and that’s how we got the win tonight”.
