By Amy Samin

After the game, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv’s head coach David Blatt said, “I think that the main difference is that usually we give up 13 three pointers, and tonight we gave up 9 less than the average. You saw the result; it’s part of playing on our home court. Our crowd was incredible, and the noise and passion from the stands cost Milan some baskets, and of course the match ups we did also played a part in that.”

“Basically, in order to lower their percentages we need to take the additional step of getting to their shooters quicker with a hand in the face or on the hand of the shooter – those are the things that make a difference. We did a fantastic job on defense tonight, but we don’t have time to be too excited, because we need to come back and do the same thing, if not more, on Wednesday. I know that our fans will come and support us, and we will repay them by giving the maximum. We have a lot of work to do.”

Sofoklis Schortsanitis said, “We played a good defensive game, and that’s what gave us the win. It was great to come back and play in front of our fans, it gave us extra motivation. Playing for our fans gives the perfect atmosphere. My injury? It’s better, but pain is part of the job; I would never abandon my team because of an injury. We’re going to give everything in the next game in order to end the series. We can’t let what happened against Panathinaikos two years ago happen again.”

Game MVP, David Blu, added: “Defense was the key, and along with rebounding we did a great job. Of course, we can’t celebrate yet, there’s still another game, but we’re close. In the next game, we’ll need to do an even better job than we did tonight.”

Ricky Hickman, who had another terrific game, said: “Wednesday is like a championship game for us. We’re not thinking about the Final Four yet, only about how to win the game on Wednesday. We played defense the way we’ve been playing it all season in the Euroleague, and that’s what made the difference. We have a lot of tools on offense, and when we’re good on defense, it’s excellent.”

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