Despite the 66:67 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Yellows know they will have to look much better later on: "We were not focused and we were not ready. The problems need to be solved "• It is still unclear whether Acey and Bryant will be fit for the next game

• Sapropoulos did not like the mental readiness of the players

  Photo: 

  Alan Shiver

There was a big sigh of relief yesterday (Saturday) among the people of Maccabi Tel Aviv after the dramatic 66:67 that raised them to 0: 1 over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.



Coach Yannis Sapropoulos very much disliked the level of performance of his trainees and especially their mental readiness for the game and made sure to make their anger clear to them at the end of the game. 

"We were not focused and were not mentally ready to play a playoff game even though we talked about it with the players before the game," said the Greek, "We will look into why it happened and resolve it. It's totally a wake-up call, we'll learn from the mistakes we made and correct later. We will certainly do that. "



Yuval Sussman, who provided another good game, also admitted: "We knew they would get their hands on us, but we did not arrive ready. They covered the game for us and played better than us in most stages of the game, but we know what we are worth and I will be much better in the next game. "We have no reason to stress, we are Maccabi Tel Aviv."



The team was happy to get back Tyler Dorsey who came out of the isolation, but it is still unclear whether Quincy Acey and Elijah Bryant will be fit for the next game on Tuesday.