By Amy Samin<\/FONT> Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv can be proud of their Thursday night 85 \u2013 65 victory over Union Olimpija in the first week of the 2009-2010 Euroleague season on their home court at Nokia Arena.<\/FONT> \u201cWe got through it,\u201d said Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon<\/B> after the game. About Alan Anderson, who was MVP with 25 points, Gershon said, \u201cHe\u2019s a scorer, and he knows how to do things the best possible way. When asked about Andrew Wisniewski, Gershon added, \u201cI always tell him to shoot\u2026I guess someone translated everything that\u2019s been written about him, and he started executing. Alan Anderson<\/B>, the number one man in the easy victory over Olimpija said, \u201cI feel good. Andrew Wisniewski<\/B>, who scored 19 points, said, \u201cI felt good on offense tonight. Maccabi center D\u2019or Fischer<\/B>, who had 7 points, 7 rebounds and at least 5 blocked shots said, \u201cIt was great to come back to Nokia and see the big crowd. About his own personal ability, Fischer said, \u201cI think I had a great game and I\u2019m very satisfied. Maciej Lampe<\/B> said, \u201cI was a little nervous at the beginning; it\u2019s my first time playing in front of such a large audience. \u201cI want to praise Maccabi and Pini: they deserve this win,\u201d said Union Olimpija head coach Jure Zdovc<\/B>.
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\u201cGames like that can go either way.
There were some good things on defense.
The two point guards and Anderson did excellent work.
As a starting point, it was okay.
It was a really slow game.\u201d
Looking ahead, Gershon said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to do things better.
There\u2019re a lot of things we\u2019re still doing too slowly, but we\u2019re still not fully trained.\u201d<\/FONT>
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There aren\u2019t many players who can stop him, maybe at the highest levels\u2026
We need to keep things stable.
Someone told me that he plays a great first game, and then he kind of disappears.
I really hope that doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/FONT>
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The question is whether he can do it every game.
He and Perkins together are just about perfect.\u201d
Regarding the lack of playing time on Thursday for the Israeli players, Gershon stated, \u201cThey will play more.\u201d<\/FONT>
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I needed a real game after all the practice and preparation we had.
We waited more than a month and a half for the start of the season, with lots of internal practices and practice games against other teams, and we finally got a chance to show the fans what we can do.
That\u2019s the real thing.
I really liked our defense, we played really intensely.
Also on offense we showed a few good things.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Every game is different.
Some games I contribute more on defense, other games on offense.
The key for us in this game was our defense.
We had a lot of steals and we forced a lot of turnovers.
We made them use all the time on the shot clock every possession, and they felt the pressure.\u201d
About the infamous Nokia crowd, Wisniewski said, \u201cThere was a great atmosphere in the arena.
The crowd was super and really pushed us on.\u201d<\/FONT>
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I think we had a great game, and we showed the fans in Tel Aviv what they can expect this season.\u201d<\/FONT>
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I could see in the eyes of my friends on the team how they reacted to being in Nokia with a full crowd for the first time.
They were very excited about the big show that the crowd of 11,000 fans puts on.
The thrill will wear off a little as time goes on, but tonight is a night they will never forget.
I\u2019m sure there\u2019re things we need to improve.
It\u2019s just the start of the season, and we\u2019ll work on them.
Tonight, the most important thing is that we won.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Also, with all the practice games we never met our fans, so I think for me and some of the other players it was hard to get used to it, but it\u2019s fun and from the minute we settled down we played great defense and good offense\u2026
I don\u2019t think the games in the U.S. will stop our progress.
It\u2019s an opportunity for us to play at that level.
I think it will help us get in better shape, and help us pull together more as a team.\u201d<\/FONT>
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\u201cWe made too many mistakes.
We knew if we could control the ball we\u2019d have a chance, but we turned the ball over 20 times, which is way too much.
Offensively, we were too selfish; we didn\u2019t look for the additional pass.
Maccabi is a very special team on offense.\u201d <\/FONT>
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