By Amy Samin Winning coach Pini Gershon<\/B> was satisfied after the game, and said, \u201cI think that we\u2019re the best team in Of course, Gershon couldn\u2019t resist blistering his rival coach, Robby Belinko, for the arrogance he showed after the first game in the series. And what did Robby Belinko<\/B> have to say? The Carlos Arroyo<\/STRONG>said Guard Dee Brown<\/B> said, \u201cThis series wasn\u2019t easy, but I know that every team will be at its best against Maccabi.
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<\/SPAN>And when we do, it\u2019s our own fault.
<\/SPAN>The first game of this series could have ended exactly like this one, but we didn\u2019t know how to pull it off.
<\/SPAN>We have to play accordingly in the rest of our games, and to fix our shortcomings.
<\/SPAN>We have 13 \u2013 14 players, and on any given day any one of them can play, even with a five point difference.
<\/SPAN>I hope all of them will come into the Final Four at the peak of their abilities, whether they play for one minute or thirty.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>\u201cRobby\u2019s a good guy and I think he wanted to get something from the things he said.
<\/SPAN>But I think he has learned a lesson from his remarks.
<\/SPAN>I\u2019ve learned from people who are smarter than I am that what you don\u2019t say, you can\u2019t be punished for.
<\/SPAN>He knows that he insulted Maccabi and while sometimes empires crumble, you need to control yourself.\u201d
<\/SPAN>About
<\/SPAN>You need to respect your rivals, and we gave them the respect they deserved.
<\/SPAN>We came ready for this game because we respected them.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>He was especially proud of his team. \u201cI wish Maccabi Tel Aviv well, and hope they take the championship, so we can say we lost to the champion.
<\/SPAN>To come into a playoff series against them isn\u2019t easy, and we came into it from the bottom of the league.
<\/SPAN>I think I can be very proud of my team.
<\/SPAN>No one would have bet we\u2019d get past three games, and we surprised them all and took the first game of the series.
<\/SPAN>The differences in the quality of the two teams were obvious, and it was very difficult.
<\/SPAN>I\u2019m proud of my players and of the team we\u2019ve built in
<\/SPAN>I\u2019m finishing this series with my head held high; we put up the best fight we could.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>There are some players who, in the series against us, really came to life, like Tal Burstein.
<\/SPAN>Maccabi is the best team in
<\/SPAN>If you want to put it in percentages, then their chances are about 90%, but in that 10% it\u2019s impossible to say.\u201d
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<\/SPAN> after the game: \u201cI think that the positive thing is that it keeps you pumped up, because it\u2019s all close. The series against
<\/SPAN>That will help us in the future.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>The next step is to take the championship.
<\/SPAN>We know how to handle the stress when it\u2019s one game and not a series.
<\/SPAN>Starting from now, we know it will be easy because everything depends on it.\u201d