By Amy Samin<\/FONT> Maccabi fought hard, especially on defense, and defeated Partizan 98 \u2013 78 in Nokia Arena, tying the series between the two teams in the Euroleague quarterfinals at 1 and 1. \u201cI was able to influence the team mentally; let\u2019s hope it\u2019s not too late,\u201d said Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon<\/B> after the game. \u201cNothing new happened. Andrew Wisniewski<\/B>, who was one of the top players in the game, said, \u201cIt was d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again. David Bluthenthal<\/B> said, \u201cI think we played like we did in game one the first half; we just didn\u2019t do it then for forty minutes. \u201cI think we\u2019re a better team than them, and it\u2019s just a matter of going on out and proving it. Guy Pnini<\/B> said, \u201cWe fell in the first game, that\u2019s no secret. D\u2019or Fischer, <\/B>when asked about the difference between the first game and the second in the series, <\/B>said, \u201cI was really down after the first game, and now obviously I\u2019m very satisfied. Losing coach Dusko Vujosevic said, \u201cAfter the first game, Maccabi was more motivated and played with more aggression. \u201cObviously, we\u2019re going to fix the mistakes we made,\u201d the coach continued, \u201cbut Maccabi is a team with a lot of talent and it\u2019s hard to know what will happen.
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Next week, the team heads to Belgrade with one goal: to return the home court advantage to Tel Aviv.
David Bluthenthal had an excellent game with 17 points; Andrew Wisniewski scored the same amount, and D\u2019or Fischer contributed 15.<\/FONT>
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\u201cI\u2019ve been saying the same things since the start of the season, and it seems they needed a wake-up call in order to play this way.
They showed Serbia whose house this is.
We\u2019re going to get the same thing there, and we can\u2019t show weakness.
We need to play with the same intensity and steal a win there.
After we almost lost in Afula and after Tuesday night\u2019s loss to Partizan, I don\u2019t think I need to say much; just give reminders.\u201d<\/FONT>
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We\u2019re 1:1.
By the way, Real Madrid beat Barcelona (tonight) and that goes to show that we beat a strong team,\u201d the coach added.
\u201cNow we need to prove that the difference between the teams is twenty points, and they need to prove that the home court advantage is worth something.
Nothing has changed since the last game.
Go and check their percentages from three point range and take a look at our defense.
I think their coach is saving the zone defense for the upcoming games.\u201d<\/FONT>
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We led by fifteen at the half, but we learned our lesson from the last game, and this time we kept up the aggression and velocity for the whole forty minutes.
The atmosphere from the crowd was great, and we used it like we should.
We\u2019ll need that energy in Belgrade.
I\u2019ve played there many times and there\u2019s a hot crowd waiting for us there.
We have to play our basketball.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Tonight we did.\u201d
When asked about the upcoming games in Belgrade, Bluthenthal said, \u201cI think we have to do the exact same thing for forty minutes; make sure we stay calm, and continue to believe in ourselves.
It was a great night for us, and I think what made the difference was the intensity we showed at the start of the third quarter.\u201d <\/FONT>
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We\u2019re not scared of anybody on the road, and we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge.\u201d<\/FONT>
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They blasted us, and we fell back.
We\u2019re headed now to Belgrade and there\u2019s going to be quite a battle there.
It\u2019s not going to be easy; we\u2019re talking about a home court with a crazy atmosphere.
It\u2019s time to prove how strong we are, and what kind of a team we have.\u201d<\/FONT>
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We gave away the first game, and now we\u2019ve proved to everyone that we can do it.
That\u2019s the difference. Tonight we played forty minutes.
Our goal was to not come out flat in the third quarter, but to come out with a lot of intensity, and we did that.\u201d
In discussing the games next week in Belgrade, the center said, \u201cI don\u2019t about surprises, but we need to keep playing with the same aggression we showed tonight.
If we do that, I believe we\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/FONT>
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That\u2019s what gave them the game.
We didn\u2019t take enough rebounds today, we missed too many free throws and they capitalized on that with fast breaks.
We can learn a lot from this game.
It\u2019s impossible to predict what will happen next in this series.\u201d<\/FONT>
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Usually, after two games like this, a win and a loss, we can go home to Belgrade satisfied.
The referees allowed a lot of contact today.
It\u2019s a tough series, that\u2019s the way it is, but there were times the referees allowed too much contact.\u201d <\/FONT>
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