Maccabi Tel Aviv recovered tonight (Sunday) from relegation in the Euroleague, after beating Hapoel Jerusalem 79:89 and coming close to securing first place in the Premier League at the end of the regular season. In their first game since the sweep of Real Madrid, the Yellows celebrated their own sweep – completing 0: 3 over the arch-rival in the regular season games, for the first time since 2011. Keenan Evans and James Nanley each scored 15 for the winner, while 26 for Jaylen Adams did not Enough on the other hand.
“I’m glad we recorded an important win in the fight ahead, there are two more league games ahead of us, but the game was very important. I’m glad we made the move and were sharp. We did not start the game sharp and aggressive enough on defense. “.
Stone analyzed the differences between the first half and the second. “Jerusalem started the game with a high percentage, it is a talented team, but we did a better job in the second half, and that gave us an advantage. “He did everything pleasantly. We went down in the half with too little activity, it was not good enough. We were there, but we were not active enough. When we picked up this thing, the game was released and we got more free throws.”
Stone praised John Dibertolomao, who scored crucial baskets and finished with 11 points. “John is an amazing player, not sure anyone has thought of anything else. He’s a winner. Glad he was there today to stick to the critical threes. Everyone came with a great understanding that this is a game that could put us first, but John is experienced, familiar “The club, and not afraid. He is one of the people who create the positive, dynamic and active with us. He is an example to every player who grew up in the youth departments, who will see how he trains and plays, who will say that they want to be like him.”
On the other side, Yotam Halperin concluded: “In the first half we played good basketball, defensively we got 44 points which is a little more than we are used to, we scored 48 on the other half. “I’m shorter than Maccabi. I’m proud of the players, we’ll learn from that and we’ll move on.”
Halperin added: “I would be happy if there were more players who enter the game better. Jaylen alone can not pull this team for 40 minutes, neither here nor against Maccabi. It did not happen today, we will all look at the video for this game and see what can be done Better.
Maccabi is a quality team with quality players, a deep team. When you take your foot off the gas and lower the level of aggressiveness – you will be hurt. There are games that it’s okay to fall a bit during the game, here it should not happen. We have been playing well in recent months, and fighting for first place, we have done good things in the past and we will want to do in the future as well. Each of our games against Maccabi has its own life, in the arena we were led 7, 6 minutes to the end. We didn’t break even today, but Maccabi’s small moments of momentum ended the game. “