The Yellow & Blue summarized the fall to Holon. Sfairopoulos: “Dori is a ‘Gever’. I’m very proud of his performances”. Sahar: “We can’t allow ourselves to play like this. I’ve been waiting for this moment since I’m young”
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv dropped their first domestic game of the season after a 76:79 loss to Hapoel Holon as part of the third Israeli Winner League fixture. With the defeat, the Yellow & Blue record falls to 4:1 as Yovel Zoosman played 12 minutes in his season debut.
Elijah Bryant finished as Maccabi’s top scorer with 21 points while adding 5 rebounds. Othello Hunter contributed 12 points, and 7 rebounds as Angelo Caloiaro added 12 points. C.J Harris produced 26 points for the winning side, and Maxime De Zeeuw performed well, recording 15 points.
“The game was judged by our bad start, we didn’t start it well, allowing 28 points against a good offensive team. We knew they tend to control the tempo, score three’s, and attack the offensive boards. Although we had a game plan against these perimeters, we weren’t ready”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos about the game. “After the first quarter, we slowly got into the game with a better concentration on both ends of the court, and in the third, allowing them to score only 13 points was crucial for our comeback. After we took the lead, we didn’t have good concentration in the last few minutes”.
“Now we need to find our chemistry and our roles, we have a different roster in the Israeli league compared to the EuroLeague”, Added coach Sfairopoulos. “We have players returning from injuries that aren’t in their best rhythm. Yovel’s return is significant because we need our full roster to plan differently to play the games. At the end of the day, we need to win games”.
When asked about Dori Sahar’s performance: “Dori is a ‘Gever’ (man), I’m very proud of his performances, and I’m very happy for him. He needs to continue like that, he’s humble, and from now on, I can count on him even in tough games like this one tonight”.
Dori Sahar summarized his thoughts about the game: “In the first quarter, they scored way too many points. We can’t allow ourselves to play like this no matter who our opponent is, especially against Holon, who’s a very talented offensive group”.
About his latest production: “The coaches give me confidence in practice. I just place myself in the best spot I can set myself to help the team. The staff deserves all of the credit for letting me feel confident and be sure in each play, even if I make a mistake”.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment to play on these courts since I’m young. As a kid, I was a season ticket holder going with my parents to the local and EuroLeague games. My dream was to become a basketball player, and there isn’t a better feeling about playing on the court”.
