{"id":501405,"date":"2018-02-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/spahija-we-need-to-play-better-basketball-to-win-this-title\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T09:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T06:56:09","slug":"spahija-we-need-to-play-better-basketball-to-win-this-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/spahija-we-need-to-play-better-basketball-to-win-this-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Spahija: &#8220;We need to play better basketball to win this title&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"responsive-video-container\" style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 20px;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kT3m03xjt3A\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div style=\"direction: ltr;\"> \t<span style=\"font-size:14px;\">What a semifinal!!!! The yellows got the dramatic 76:73 win over Ashdod as they advanced to the finals on Thursday. They will face the winner between Hapoel Holon and Hapoel Jerusalem as the yellows will try to win the cup for the 45th time.<\/p>\n<p> \t&#8220;Ashdod deserves the credit for\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">their amazing<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"> preparation they did for this game&#8221;, said coach Spahija who got ejected in the fourth quarter, being an underdog is the most comfortable position to be in. Rebound is easier said than done, the problem is when you miss open shots and you start to lose confidence. During the timeout I asked the players to shoot the ball with confidence and not take the time, I felt the pressure, and I would like to congratulate my players and my staff for getting the job done in the last 6-7 minutes&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p> \tCoach Spahija also addressed his ejection: &#8220;I didn&#8217;t intend to get ejected, that&#8217;s what the refs did and I have no complaints. Now we need to be stronger mentally and prepare\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">to<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"> the finals. I told my players that I&#8217;m proud of them and that we need to play better basketball to win this title. I cannot allow myself to not be in the decisive moments of the game and I have complaints to myself and not to the refs&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p> \tJake Cohen who scored 13 points against his ex-team said: &#8220;Ashdod deserves a lot of credit, they played\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">excellent<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\"> and we had to fight hard to get the win. As long as we find the way to win, we will get better, the rebound that John helped me with was a good possession and is also an example to how we need to rebound as a team&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p> \t&#8220;I&#8217;m proud of my friends who knew how to do the right things and get back from being down by eight\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">points<\/span><span style=\"font-size:14px;\">&#8221; said John DiBartolomeo who finished the game with 18 points and MVP honors. &#8220;We increased our intensity and they took a step back, that&#8217;s what made the difference. It doesn&#8217;t matter who we will face in the finals, we&#8217;ll get together watch film and fix our mistakes. The most important thing is that we will be in the finals&#8221;.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maccabi&#8217;s head coach who got ejected summarized the win over Ashdod as he looked forward towards the finals on Thursday: &#8220;Now we need to be stronger mentally and prepare to the finals&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":501402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-501405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-54"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501408,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501405\/revisions\/501408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501405"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=501405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}