By Amy Samin Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv spilled a lot of blood, sweat and tears before handing head coach Pini Gershon his first Euroleague victory in this, his third term as head coach of the club: 88 \u2013 83 over Cibona Zagreb. The first to compliment Eliyahu on his performance (24 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists) in Thursday night\u2019s game was none other than Pini Gershon<\/B> himself. About the game itself, the coach said, \u201cFirst of all, I wasn\u2019t expecting an easy game. \u201cI can\u2019t say that what you saw in our zone defense in the final minutes of the game is what I want,\u201d Gershon continued. When asked about the short rotation, the coach said, \u201cWhen five players play for 35 minutes, they naturally gain confidence, but sometimes that can also hurt the team. The game\u2019s MVP, Lior Eliyahu<\/B> said, \u201cI\u2019m happy I had a good game. Marcus Brown<\/SPAN><\/B> knows it could have been easier: \u201cIn the second half, we played to their rhythm. When asked to share his thoughts about Number 8, Tal Burstein<\/B> answered creatively: \u201cLior sent an SMS to Carlos Arroyo<\/SPAN><\/B> (12 points) added, \u201cWe had opportunities to stop them, and we took them. Team captain Derrick Sharp<\/B> spoke briefly. \u201cWe played great, and we deserved to win the game.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>\u201cIf Lior would guard better, he wouldn\u2019t make so many fouls and he wouldn\u2019t be playing here (he would be playing in the NBA).
<\/SPAN>An offensive game like he played isn\u2019t easy to give.
<\/SPAN>There was a lot of pressure under the basket, and he moved well and broke through.
<\/SPAN>The surprise was that he also took so many rebounds.
<\/SPAN>He was excellent on offense.
<\/SPAN>I can\u2019t ask that he defend better, rather that he position himself better on defense.
<\/SPAN>That would really help us out.
<\/SPAN>He has something that not many other players have.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>They have a good starting five.
<\/SPAN>Too many players played too many minutes, and that\u2019s a pretty big burden on the team, but it was critical that we win this game.
<\/SPAN>There\u2019s pressure in the system, and I didn\u2019t say that before the game in order to avoid adding to the pressure.
<\/SPAN>It was a crucial victory, and we needed to win by more than two points.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>\u201cCibona slowed the game down; that\u2019s their rhythm.
<\/SPAN>It\u2019s something I anticipated.
<\/SPAN>Turnovers in the first half cut our lead from 10 to 3.
<\/SPAN>The difference between the two teams in the first half was worth more than three points.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>It was an important game, and I decided that they would play a lot of minutes.
<\/SPAN>I don\u2019t know why we didn\u2019t play well in the second quarter, but fortunately we came back and the pressure switched over to Cibona.
<\/SPAN>In the end, we knew how to stand up under pressure.
<\/SPAN>When the pressure is on you, you\u2019re liable to make more mistakes.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>We do what we can.
<\/SPAN>The game went my way, and I have to thank the guys, who helped me get to the shots that work for me.
<\/SPAN>Today it was me; next time it will be someone else.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>We made the game harder on ourselves.
<\/SPAN>We have character, and these kinds of games build character, but it didn\u2019t have to be this way.
<\/SPAN>We need to execute better.\u201d
<\/SPAN>When asked about his teammate, Brown observed, \u201cLior Eliyahu was fantastic.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>I\u2019m happy that he showed what he can do.
<\/SPAN>It was a super hard game.
<\/SPAN>They made it hard.
<\/SPAN>When we were able to run, we opened up big leads.
<\/SPAN>We\u2019ll take those good minutes.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>Fischer played great, and Marcus was terrific.
<\/SPAN>I think we had opportunities on defense; if I wasn\u2019t injured I would have played more.
<\/SPAN>I hope we\u2019ll continue to play well.
<\/SPAN>If we do, things will be better.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>Yaniv Green <\/B>focused on defense: \u201cIt\u2019s tough to stop Prkacin, but the important thing is that we won the game.\u201d