Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrates the victory over Basconia/Maccabi Tel Aviv's official website
Maccabi Tel Aviv continued its great period tonight (Tuesday) in Belgrade, where it defeated Basconia 85:113 in the play-in and qualified for the Euroleague playoffs as the seventh seed. Lorenzo Brown silenced the critics with a performance of 29 points (7 of 8 three-pointers, 21 points already in the first half) - the most for a Maccabi Tel Aviv player in the playoffs (the previous record was held by Anthony Parker in 2004. Wade Baldwin was also enthusiastic with 26 and the Yellows traveled For the quarter finals, where they have a hot series against Panathinaikos (the best of five games).
This series will start in exactly one week (Tuesday, Passover), when Maccabi Tel Aviv will host the third game at 20:30 The following Tuesday, and if necessary, the fourth match will be held two days later, again in Belgrade. The fifth match, if both teams get there, will be held on May 8, in Greece.
Maccabi Tel Aviv has already won this season ( 81:86 after extra time on October 20) and in the second round celebrated against Panathinaikos also in Belgrade with 75:90.
The celebrations with Ketch in the dressing room
Maccabi Tel Aviv players celebrate with Oded Ketch the qualification for the quarterfinals/Maccabi Tel Aviv's official website
Coach Oded Ketch: "Before we left the locker room and I talked to the people. I told them to play our basketball and in most phases of the game they did excellently what we wanted to see from them in defense and attack. This is a crazy season for the whole club and the players showed a lot of character. We deserve to be in the playoffs." About the return of the crowd he said: "We needed it. We have an amazing atmosphere at home games and it was special to see hundreds of fans here with us."
At the press conference, Ketch added: "A big victory for us, I'm very happy for the players. After what we went through this year, with all the difficulties, we deserve it. I'm very proud of how we performed today, we executed on both sides of the field. Offensively we got to our rhythm, defensively the first half and the quarter The first made the difference for us."
Ketch was asked if he deserved to be nominated for coach of the season in the Euroleague: "It doesn't bother me, I'm proud and happy. We know under what conditions we played, and we achieved results. I'm not thinking about myself, but about the team. I'm happy for the players, for the organization, for the residents Israel that we made them happy. I don't think about personal titles. I'm very happy, they don't always see me, it's a great achievement for us."
About his standouts tonight he said: "Wade is important for us, I can talk about him and Lorenzo, and we can also add Bonzi and Josh who continued for another season, they are the heart of this team. Wade is a leader on and off the field. Nothing was easy for us this season, The days before this game were also crazy, but I said before the game that we were drawn to play under these conditions. We showed character, this achievement is more special than last year because of the situation."
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Man of the match Lorenzo Brown: "The feeling is great at the moment. We need to stay united and we're happy we're in the playoffs. It's a long season and I've dealt with injuries, me and the whole team have dealt with things too, but I've come through it and I'm letting things flow. Panathenaic is a great team and we know there will be an atmosphere there Good, but we have to play our game."
Wade Baldwin: "A lot of things are going through my mind right now. We went through a crazy 48 hours and faced a lot of things that happened in Israel and I thank the defense systems that protected us. It was not easy for everyone and we really appreciate the fans who came here. We played very well today and we will go to Greece to play in one The halls with the best atmosphere in the Euroleague, we have a week to prepare."
On the other hand, the opposing coach Duško Ivanovic admitted: "Congratulations to Maccabi, they were better, they played better than us, more aggressive than us. They had Lorenzo Brown, he gave a great game. We should have been more aggressive, we tried to fight but it wasn't Enough. We knew that Maccabi is one of the best physical teams in the Euroleague. The problem was not Maccabi, the problem was that we didn't fight from the start of the game."