{"id":503710,"date":"2019-05-08T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/greece-and-israel-similar-culture-warm-people\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T10:49:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T07:49:04","slug":"greece-and-israel-similar-culture-warm-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/greece-and-israel-similar-culture-warm-people\/","title":{"rendered":"“Greece and Israel? Similar culture, warm people”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t\tThe EuroLeague finals, 14 years ago on this day, Nestoras Kommatos steps on the court, a few days after his 28th birthday; The first Greek player to wear the Maccabi jersey scores 13 points in the first half and the EuroLeague reigning champs take the 50:39 halftime lead. Despite Vitoria’s comeback in the third quarter, the yellows were crowned as the EuroLeague champs making back to back titles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t“We waited the whole year for the final four, we played for it”, Nestoras Kommatos<\/strong> said to the Maccabi official website. “We were focused on our goal, all the players. When we got there- to Moscow- we got the job done. After our semifinal we heard that CSKA lost to Tau, we all looked at each other and said: ‘we’re the champs, we’re not going to lose in the finals’ and so it was”.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t“In the last game I was injured and I got two shots, but I played”, Nestoras added. “To me it doesn’t matter if I played one minute of 40, I knew that I will give my heart on the court, in my mind I was already a champ and I just had to make sure that it’ll happen and to get the recognition for it”.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\tA quick look at Wikipedia shows that you’re still an active player…<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t“I still play on the A2 division, I’m in the same team for the past 5 years- Ermis Agias. I took them from the local league to the professional A2 league”.<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\tYou came to Maccabi as the Greek league top scorer, do you remember how you got here? How did it happened?<\/span><\/strong>
\t\t“In late August, I think it was on the 30th, I talked with Pini Gershon who wanted to sign me, I told him it is a great honor for me and that I’ll do whatever it takes, I just want to come and play. That’s what happened, I came to play”. <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\tWho was your best friend in Maccabi?<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t“All the players were my best friends, everyone. There were a lot of laughs with Maceo Baston, but to me everyone was equal and that’s why they loved me. If I had something with someone I would tell it to his face, I’m real. The team was special and there were almost no changes from the previous year, only Bluthental left and that was the key. The secret to our success was the atmosphere in the locker room, the friendship and mutual surety”.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t“From the top, players wise – Saras and Parker, owners wise Shimon and David Federman – to everyone on the staff – everyone was equal we were a family”, Kommatos stated. “I have to point out the logistics manger Ami Bitton who is my good friend till this day. He was the first person I met in Israel and also ‘Eliko’ (i.e. Eli Netanel). When someone had a birthday we all celebrated together, everything was together it was amazing”.     <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\tWhen Maccabi arrive to Moscow to complete the Back 2 Back mission, what is the your most memorable moment from the atmosphere in Moscow?  <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t“I remember everything was yellow, the fans just followed us and it was a tremendous show of force. You can’t lose with them”. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"\" <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\tYou were the first Greek player to ever play in Maccabi, you were followed by Sofo and Papaloukas, and today there’s an assistant coach and a coach coming from Greece. How do people see coach Giannis Sfairopoulos in Greece?<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t“The basketball fans in Greece will say about Giannis: ‘He is diligent and that is why he’ll succeed”. <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\tYou’re still in touch with people from Maccabi. To your opinion what connects the Greeks and the Israelis so naturally? <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\t\t“It’s the same culture, same temperament, warm people not cold; it’s not Norway or Germany, these are people with fire inside, what I like about the Israelis is that they say what they feel. They are straightforward and I’m also straightforward, that’s why I respect the Israeli as a nation, they say something and they do it which is big”.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t“Maccabi is one of the best and biggest clubs in Europe, people put their families and their lives aside for Maccabi”, Nestoras emphasized. “When I see that, as a player it makes me put that extra effort for them. If the people, the owners leave their families and come to fly with us – it’s amazing. We the players, see it and we give back our soul, and it goes the same way for the fans”. <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t“When we won and got back to the country, there were so many people, I felt like a rock star, it was crazy”, The Greek added as he also sent a message for the Israeli independence day: “To sum it all, I want to say that I respect and love everyone, it was huge for me to be in Maccabi, It was a significant chapter in my life. I wish everyone health, freedom, fulfillment and success”.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nestoras Kommatos, the first Greek player to ever play in Maccabi and the X-factor of the 2005 EuroLeague finals, in an interview about the winning the second championship in a row, coach Sfairopoulos and the fans: “Everything was yellow, a tremendous show of strength”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":503711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-503710","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\/503710","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=503710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503716,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503710\/revisions\/503716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503710"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=503710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}