“We can still play better”

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv fell to Bayern Munich 82:85 in Menorah Mivtachim Arena after a dramatic finish as part of the third EuroLeague fixture. The Germans held a double-digit advantage early in the second quarter, and the Yellow & Blue performed a fine comeback late in the game, but time went against them, and it wasn’t enough. Scottie Wilbekin came clutch in the final quarter scoring 15 points out of his 27, adding 7 assists, and Zizic held Maccabi in the first half finishing the night with 19 points and 6 rebounds. 

“Bayern played better, and we didn’t have good ideas with what to do. We turned over the ball too many times in the first half, and it gave us problems on defense and offense”, Said Giannis Sfairopoulos at the post-game press conference. “Every time we tried to come back, they scored at the end of the shot clock. We fought until the end, and we could have stolen the win. I told the players to calm down and not to be nervous at halftime. We tried to do that, and I think we played better in the second half, but we can still play better”.

“We gave them some easy and open shots, and they deserve credit because they were able to hit some tough ones late”, Told Scottie Wilbekin, who led the late surge with 15 points in the fourth quarter. “Early on, they played harder than us, and we shot ourselves in the foot with the turnovers. We had a short preseason, but we have to find that on the go, we have to learn how to play together, and that’s clear, to cooperate. We have to get that stuff together, but that comes with time”.

Elijah Bryant addressed what went wrong: “We have to come more ready to play, there are no excuses because this is our job, and we can’t say it’s because of the pandemic and a short preseason. Bayern came out and hit us in the face, we need to be the ones who punch first”.