By Amy Samin<\/FONT> All season the fans of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv have been waiting for them to play a game like they did last night (Thursday). After the game, Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon<\/B> said, \u201cI would be happy if I didn\u2019t have to say anything; I\u2019d love to see what all of you (reporters) would write tomorrow. \u201cI already said, before this game, that is was entirely likely that all of the teams would win at home. \u201cBoth the players and the coaches have to take it up a notch. Alan Anderson<\/B>, who was game MVP and led scorers with 20 points, said, \u201cWe just played for forty minutes. D\u2019or Fischer<\/B>, who finished with 14 points in his best game this season said, \u201cCoach did a great job on tactics. Doron Perkins<\/B> added, \u201cPlayers made shots and everyone outdid themselves. \u201cNo one thought we could beat Real Madrid and they got hung up on the game against Siena, but we didn\u2019t. \u201cDefense, intensity, the rotation and the media is what won us the game,\u201d said David Bluthenthal<\/B>. Raviv Limonad<\/B> said, \u201cWe kept up the pace that we needed, we kept things fast and didn\u2019t let them slow the game down. Ettore Messina<\/B>, head coach of Real Madrid, said, \u201cI want to congratulate Maccabi on a big win in a tough game. \u201cWe had a hard time against the penetrations of Anderson and Perkins.
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Maccabi defeated Real Madrid 81 \u2013 76 and enjoyed their first victory in the Euroleague Top 16 this season.
Alan Anderson and Chuck Eidson were outstanding.
It was only Pini Gershon\u2019s second victory over his longtime rival Ettore Messina.<\/FONT>
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We\u2019ve already said all there is to say.
We won a very important game tonight.
I really enjoyed Messina saying it was an important game, and we won it.
We also had a good game against CSKA.
The players that were supposed to be good were good, on both sides of the court.
If they hadn\u2019t sent them (Madrid) to the line 19 times in the second half, the lead would have been bigger, but you can\u2019t ask for everything.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Our game next week is no less difficult, and no less important.
I hope we will play against Pilsen at least as well as we did tonight, if not better.
Alan Anderson said yesterday that we can beat any team, anywhere, and tonight he put his money where his mouth is.\u201d<\/FONT>
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I told everyone before the game tonight that it was going to be an important game and we should enjoy it.
Most importantly, aside from the crowd, is when I look at the faces of the management and see that we\u2019ve done something they didn\u2019t expect. There was an atmosphere of a huge game, but we have to also remember that although we won a battle the war is much longer.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Even in the beginning when we missed shots, they were good shots and we kept playing hard.
We knew we had to play well the whole game because Real Madrid isn\u2019t a team that gives up easily.
The crowd is a huge plus for the team and for me personally.
I was tired and I heard them shouting, so I told myself I had to keep going for the fans.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Everyone played with a lot of heart and soul.
I don\u2019t think I didn\u2019t have much energy until tonight.
It\u2019s been a tough period for me, and I hope this game will help get me back into a good rhythm.
We have a really tough game next Thursday, and we haven\u2019t done anything yet.\u201d<\/FONT>
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I feel more self-confident and I\u2019m getting more minutes on the court.
It took me a while to get into the game, and I have a lot more to show, but I\u2019m happy to take responsibility as point guard and want to score more points.\u201d<\/FONT>
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We wanted a win and we believed in ourselves that we could win.
Maybe we could make a deal with the media: you say that we can\u2019t win, put it in the headlines, and that will challenge us even more and make us want the win that much more.\u201d<\/FONT>
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\u201cThis is the time you want to outdo yourself.
It\u2019s the time to be in great shape.
Celebrations?
We haven\u2019t done anything yet.
It\u2019s definitely a big win but we still have a long way to go.
We need to get back to work.\u201d<\/FONT>
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We were aggressive on defense and that\u2019s what helped us win.
We need to keep doing that in the games to come.\u201d<\/FONT>
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My players worked hard and they didn\u2019t give up.
At the end of the game, the point difference could have been a lot bigger; at least we managed to bring it down to 5 points.\u201d<\/FONT>
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It was a good game, and we need to move on to the next one.
I think the three point shots were the key for us.
We usually make 40% of our three point shots, but this time the shots didn\u2019t fall for us.
We should have been more patient on offense and taken advantage of the mismatches we had under the basket.\u201d<\/FONT>
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