Turning point: "The two weeks in isolation made me go crazy for the playoffs" • The feeling of missing out: "Disappointing that we did not experience the Euroleague playoffs, we had a chance to win" • And the sweet ending: "Crazy, but great year" • Interview with Tyler Dorsey, the man without Maccabi Tel Aviv would not fan a plate

• Dorsey. Was there for Maccabi in Money Time

  Photo: 

  Alan Shiver

Amidst all the dizzying hype surrounding Danny Abdia, Amara Studmeier's excellent Final Four and of course Scotty Wilbkin's clutch moves, Tyler Dorsey may have been a bit forgotten aside at Maccabi Tel Aviv's 54th championship celebrations this week.

The guard, who flew on a flight back to the United States yesterday, was the Yellows' outstanding scorer in the last three games of the season with 20 points on 72 percent off the arc on average, and without him they probably would not have won the championship plate.

"It's been a long year and especially the last two long months we were isolated," he says in a special interview with Israel Today, "I'm glad we won and we come home with a championship instead of thinking about what we did not achieve."

It seems that a lot of pressure was released on you after the final.

"Look, it was the last game of the season and before the game we talked in the locker room which is exactly why we came and came back here in the middle of the corona. Just to take a championship. I don't think it was pressure because we knew what we had to do and we really did it."

How do you explain the big change you went through in the last three games?

"Although it hurt me that during that time I was not part of the team and could not help the friends, I think the past two weeks without playing basketball at all before the playoffs (two weeks in which he was in isolation after being exposed to Corona;

In general, share with us some of the difficulties you have had throughout this period.

"It's been a long summer. It's very hard to be stuck in an apartment without being able to go shopping or anywhere. It was hard, but it was worth it at the end of the day because we went out champions."

How did you deal with the situation?

" You're stuck at home, so you're just focused on basketball and the goal of taking a championship. That was the goal that kept us focused since we came back from the Corona lag."

"We overcame a lot of difficulties"

This was Dorsey's first season in European basketball. After prolonged adaptation difficulties, he integrated and was an important part of Maccabi Tel Aviv's excellent run in the Euroleague, which secured promotion to the playoffs after four difficult years, and was ranked fourth when it was decided to stop the season due to the spread of the corona virus.

"It was very disappointing that we did not experience the playoffs in the Euroleague," he shares his feelings. "We had a chance to win the title because we had a very good team. I will always look back and think about it. We had a special team that overcame a lot of difficulties. We had a lot of injuries. "But every time other players came up and took responsibility. So this championship is also for the Euroleague."

Then, in the middle of the corona, you were asked to return to Israel. How did you react?

"It was a crazy time and it was hard to leave. I did not think the league would be renewed, and then, out of nowhere, they decided to renew the league. There were many things that worried us because of the corona and all the demonstrations that were. We had a lot of chaos, we had no choice and had to return. "I'm just glad I can finally go home and see my family." 

What are the biggest moments you will remember from this season?

"The last derby in the series against Hapoel. It was a game we just had to win and we were not allowed to lose, and we were up to the task in a big way. 

And of course, the championship game."

Finally, when you came here last summer did you think this would be what your first season outside of the US would look like? 

"I had no expectations before I came to Israel and it was a great year for me. Everything suited me. It was a crazy year, I saw things I have never seen in my life. It is part of my journey that I will never forget."

Next season we are also expected to see the guard on the floor in Yad Eliyahu after in recent weeks Dorsey and Maccabi Tel Aviv reached an agreement on the exercise of the option in his contract, and he will continue to wear yellow.