After last night\u2019s defeat at the hands of CSKA, Arroyo said, \u201cToday, you didn\u2019t see us as we really are. Sharp said, \u201cWe\u2019re still not in shape. Rodney White, who last night played for the first time wearing the yellow jersey of Maccabi, added, \u201cCSKA\u2019s a good team, and luckily this game wasn\u2019t part of the regular season. Esteban Batista commented, \u201cWe lost focus. Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim said, \u201cIn general, we need to work hardest on team chemistry. About the tournament in general, Efy said, \u201cMaccabi Tel Aviv is a great club, and when you\u2019re invited to a tournament like this one, the best in \u201cI feel very comfortable at Maccabi,\u201d continued Birenboim. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv\u2019s new point guard isn\u2019t worried about yesterday\u2019s loss to CSKA Moscow. \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing it was a pre-season game,\u201d says Carlos Arroyo. Team captain Derrick Sharp adds, \u201cWe\u2019re still at the same level as all the other teams in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-28018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":494686,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28018\/revisions\/494686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28018"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=28018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/SPAN>We need to be strong after a game like that, and learn from it.
<\/SPAN>Fortunately, it was just a pre-season game.
<\/SPAN>I don\u2019t think we have fallen below the level of play of the other teams in this tournament.
<\/SPAN>When the time is right, we\u2019ll be ready.\u201d
<\/FONT><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>
<\/SPAN>In another month this team will look totally different.
<\/SPAN>We\u2019re not below the level of any team.
<\/SPAN>We were tired in the second half of last night\u2019s game.
<\/SPAN>We\u2019ll take the good parts of the first half, and we\u2019ll learn from the second half.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>We started off slow in the third quarter, and CSKA just did their thing.
<\/SPAN>I was really tired in the second half.
<\/SPAN>I only had one day of practice before the game; I felt like my battery was wearing down.
<\/SPAN>But we\u2019re in good shape.
<\/SPAN>The team needs me to be aggressive, they believe in me and that\u2019s why they signed me.
<\/SPAN>I\u2019m going to work hard, and we\u2019ll be better.
<\/SPAN>We want to improve every day.
<\/SPAN>No excuses, but we\u2019re going to grow from this experience.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>We need to look ahead to the future, and find our game.
<\/SPAN>We\u2019ll learn; today was the first time the whole team played together.
<\/SPAN>It\u2019s the start of the season, and there are a lot of new players to get used to.
<\/SPAN>We have to look to the future, because then the competition will be real.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>Every game we play, we\u2019re learning to work together on the court, player to player and as a whole; whether you\u2019re subbing in for someone or coming onto the court together as a team after a time out.
<\/SPAN>Some of the players just joined the team a couple of days ago; Rodney played tonight for the first time.
<\/SPAN>We\u2019re coming together.
<\/SPAN>It\u2019s hard to come together when you\u2019re playing against teams of this caliber, but we\u2019re doing it.
<\/SPAN>The good things are that we led, and controlled the game, at one point.
<\/SPAN>Some of the players lost their energy during halftime, but that\u2019s not a reason for the loss.
<\/SPAN>We didn\u2019t play well in the second half, and we\u2019ll have to learn from that,\u201d
<\/FONT><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>
<\/SPAN>
<\/SPAN>If they need to learn, then obviously we do, too.\u201d
<\/SPAN>
<\/FONT><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>
<\/FONT><\/o:p><\/SPAN><\/P>
<\/SPAN>\u201cThey immediately got me involved in things.
<\/SPAN>When you come to a prestigious tournament like this one, the atmosphere changes everything.
<\/SPAN>You have to be nicely dressed, and your position demands a certain kind of conduct;
<\/SPAN>
<\/SPAN>but on the other hand, when you\u2019re in the locker room, or during time out, and you need to fire up your players, the behavior is the same.\u201d