Sharp: “That’s what happens in the Final Four.”

By Amy Samin

“I’m responsible for the losses; I get paid money so there will be someone to blame for the losses.
Part of what happened is my fault,” said Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon after the loss of the game and championship title Thursday night.
“There was more than a little missing during this season, and we paid for it tonight.
I’ve been added to the disreputable list of coaches who have lost the championship with Maccabi.
There were a lot of signs during the game, and we felt them.”

“It went well for Galil, they played well.
I hope that this time good things will come out of it for them, not like the last time they took the championship,” Gershon added.
“Galil did it well; it wasn’t like Holon’s one-point victory (in the championship game two years ago).
I’ll do everything I can to see that we’re stronger and that the things that happened won’t happen again.
I really like Oded.
The fact that he didn’t invite me to play cards, that makes me mad.”

“Oded has the ability and the luck of a champion, which is important for his career.
All season Galil has had outstanding third periods.
We played against Kadir; that was our tactic.
It doesn’t always work.
We scored a few great three pointers against them and that’s it.
I looked at the statistics, and Galil has a 30 point advantage in the ranking, which tells you that they were better.”

“Gilboa Galil truly deserves congratulations,” said the disappointed chairman of Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv Shimon Mizrahi after the game, “because they played so well in the second half.
We’re left with a bitter taste in our mouths after a regular season in which we won 20 games, and coming into the Final after an excellent semi-final game.
Anything can happen in one game.”

Another of Maccabi’s owners, David Federman, talked about the championship loss: “Galil played very well in the second half, and they’re the champions.
I wish them good luck, they did a great job.
I feel like what we said would happen always happens; with this system (a one game final), once every two to three years we’re going to lose the championship.

“I congratulate Oded and Galil, like I already did out on the court,” said team captain Derrick Sharp after the game.
“That’s what happens with this Final Four system.
In one game, anything can happen.
You have to do everything right and that’s a lot of pressure.
That’s the Final Four.”

“I’m devastated,” said Andrew Wisniewski.
“I’ve worked hard all year; we’ve worked hard all year to be in this position.
I think we’re the best team by far and away in the league, and it comes down to one game and we weren’t allowed to prove that.
I still think we had a successful season, we still worked hard, we still gave everything we had, day in and day out.
I love my teammates and I’m proud to be here with them.”

Chuck Eidson said, “We have to be stronger.
We should’ve won.
It’s only one game and anything can happen.
I know the history; I know what it means when Maccabi loses the championship.
We didn’t do our jobs.
Everyone expected that we would win, but we didn’t.
We need to keep our heads up.”

“Our shots didn’t go in,” said David Bluthenthal.
“I personally missed more than a few.”
When asked if Gilboa Galil wanted the win more, Bluthenthal responded, “No, they didn’t want it more. They had the refs on their side.
You know, there was a lot of phantom calls.
We made a run, we hit a three and cut it to four and they called a foul.”
When asked if he thought Maccabi lost because of the referees, Bluthenthal said, “I think that was part of it.
Like I said before in the Bnei Hasharon series; same situation.
In the last game, against Netanya, we were able to make shots and it was out of their hands; and you know, we didn’t make them tonight.
We need to move on and think about next season.”

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