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Maccabi\u2019s starting lineup included Carlos Arroyo, Lior Eliyahu, Tal Burstein, Jason Williams, and D\u2019or Fischer. Fischer got off to a fantastic start offensively in the early minutes of the first quarter, taking Maccabi to an 8 \u2013 6 lead three minutes into the game. Maccabi couldn\u2019t seem to find the key to stopping Cibona\u2019s inside game, and some awkwardness on offense plagued the team in the early part of the second quarter. Fischer remained hot at the start of the second half (14 points at halftime) and helped Maccabi maintain a small lead over the host team, 40 \u2013 39 after three minutes of play in the third quarter. For Maccabi, getting the ball to drop into the basket was like pulling teeth, and defensively the team just didn\u2019t have it together. Although Arroyo was clearly having an off-night, he tried valiantly to bring Maccabi back into the game in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Maccabi<\/B>: Fischer 26 points, Eliyahu 14 points, Arroyo 10 points, Green 8 points, Burstein 7 points, Brown 5 points, Williams 4 points, Batista 3 points, Omri Casspi 2 points.<\/FONT> \u201cIt was a close game, and we played well,\u201d said Lior Eliyahu<\/B>, who scored 14. \u201cUntil Davor Kus\u2019 three-pointer near the end we played well, but that took the wind out of our sails. \u201cThis is a tough court to play on,\u201d added the forward. Tal Burstein<\/B>: \u201cWe wanted to start off with a win and not a loss, but there\u2019s nothing to be done about it now. Marcus Brown<\/B>: Yaniv Green<\/B>: \u201cIt was a good game for a few players at certain times. Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv was close to the Croatian team throughout the game, but the hosts pulled out an 81 \u2013 79 win in the closing minutes of the game. D\u2019or Fischer was a standout with 26 points. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-28110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28110","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=28110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":494743,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28110\/revisions\/494743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28110"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=28110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Cibona opened with Davor Kus, Nikola Prkacin, Vedran Vukusic, Earl Calloway, and Marin Rozic.<\/FONT>
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A sluggish Maccabi defense allowed the host team to take a 12 \u2013 8 lead off of two three-pointers from Rozic and Kus.
The Croatian guard downed another shot from outside the arc, but a reinvigorated Maccabi defense, along with baskets scored by Fischer and Burstein, stopped the hosts from breaking the game open, and closed the lead to 15 \u2013 14 with three minutes left in the quarter.
Head coach Efy Birenboim put new life into the team by subbing in Marcus Brown and Esteban Batista, and Maccabi was able to tie the score until a corner shot by Rawle Marshall gave Cibona a 20 – 17 lead at the end of the quarter.<\/FONT><\/P> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.maccabi.co.il\/mtpic\/GYI0056020957.jpg\")
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With five quick fouls added to the mix, Maccabi found themselves at the tail end of a 26 \u2013 19 score three minutes into the quarter.
Three turnovers by Arroyo, and a string of missed opportunities on defensive rebounds further hampered Maccabi\u2019s game.
A basket by Yaniv Green and a three-pointer plus foul shot by Arroyo scored in the last seconds of the possession enabled Maccabi to close the gap, 31 \u2013 29 with three and a half minutes left in the half.
Maccabi woke up defensively, as well, stopping the Croatians and an assist by Brown to Eliyahu gave Maccabi back the lead, 32 \u2013 31 with two minutes to go in the half.
Smart playing by Green and Eliyahu kept Maccabi close to Cibona, but Brown missed a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the quarter, and the half ended with the score tied at 36.<\/FONT>
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The lead changed hands repeatedly until the sloppiness that had beset Maccabi on defense earlier in the game began to spill over into their offense, enabled Cibona to take a 45 \u2013 42 lead after five minutes of play in the third quarter.
Maccabi committed a series of turnovers and missed opportunities, causing Birenboim to call a time out with the score at 54 \u2013 45 to the Croatians and two minutes left in the quarter.<\/FONT><\/P> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.maccabi.co.il\/mtpic\/GYI0056020990.jpg\")
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Only a three-pointer by Williams in the final seconds of the quarter kept Maccabi in the game; and the quarter ended with the score 58 \u2013 52, with Cibona in the lead.<\/FONT>
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It was Fischer and Eliyahu who succeeded in keeping Maccabi in contention, pouncing on every offensive rebound, bringing the score to 64 \u2013 59 three and a half minutes into the quarter.
Brown, who was uncharacteristically cold from the field for much of the game, was able to score, bringing Maccabi to within three points of the hosts\u2019, 66 \u2013 63, with four and a half minutes left in the game.
But Maccabi was unable to keep up the momentum, allowing Kus and Marshall to score, bringing the score to 71 \u2013 63.
Arroyo returned to the court in the final minutes of the game and scored from downtown, but Kus answered, keeping the Croatian\u2019s lead steady and setting the score at 76 \u2013 68 with one minute left in the game.
Maccabi was left with the option of fouling their opponents, with the hope of missed free throws and the chance to score.
This brought mixed results, and a last-second shot by Burstein from outside the arc only succeeded in narrowing the gap.
The game ended in a Cibona victory, 81 \u2013 79.<\/FONT>
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Cibona<\/B>: Kus 23 points, Marshall 20, Prkacin 14 points, Andric and Rozic 8 points each, Princ and Calloway 3 points each, Homan 2 points.<\/FONT>
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We pulled down a lot of rebounds in the game, and we\u2019ll take away a lot of good things from this evening.\u201d<\/FONT>
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\u201cIt\u2019s just one game and you can\u2019t draw too many conclusions from it.
There was a lot of pressure on us because this was our first game in Europe.
It\u2019s important for us to beat Galil (Gilboa\/Galil) on Sunday, and Thursday\u2019s game against Avellino is a must-win for us.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Every game will be more important now.
We have a lot of work to do.
We need to win the upcoming games.
It\u2019s hard to put your finger on just what went wrong; the missed shots were the result of a few minutes\u2019 lack of concentration, when the score was tied.
That just kind of got away from us.
Turnovers, missed shots\u2026small things.\u201d<\/FONT>
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\u201cThere was a tough rhythm to the game, but we fought hard and didn\u2019t give up.
We had some missed shots, some turnovers, little things like that.
It was a tough game.
We need to keep working; I need to learn the system and where I fit in.
We need to work on defense.\u201d<\/FONT>
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We played fantastic defense at certain points and fought hard.
A few turnovers on our part, and calls by the referees, decided the direction of the game.
We have a good basis to build on.
The players put up a good fight and made the effort; a couple of mistakes are what made the difference.\u201d<\/FONT>
<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"