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Erez Bitman: "Savonis came and told me 'just so we don't play against you in the next campaign either'"
The coach of the Danish national team was one shot away from a historic ascent to Eurobasket and admitted in an interview: "We are heartbroken."
"In some of the halls here there are no baskets at all, only handball gates."
"It's annoying that the biggest clubs in the country put a stripe on the Israeli coach"
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Erez Bitman
Ahrela Weisberg
Monday, 01 March 2021, 11:00
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"94% bet that he was defeated by 18 points."
Erez Bitman with the players of the Danish national team (Photo: official website, FIBA)
The big Eurobasket qualifier drama took place at the last minute of the last round, last week.
The Lithuanian team, which did not miss out on participating in the tournament since 1995 and has since won the European Championship and three more medals, was one basket away from a sensational relegation.
A fateful roof that Mantas Klanitis attached to Adam Dorba's infiltration saved his team, preventing Denmark from making its first ascent since 1955.
"We are heartbroken," admits the Israeli coach of the Danish team, Erez Bitman, in a conversation with Walla!
Sports from Copenhagen.
"There were players who took it very hard, but this pain also shows the way we played and believed. I was told that 94 percent bet on a Lithuanian victory by 18 points. Seemingly, it was justified, but in the end we were one basket away from the biggest surprise. In Europe for the last 50 years. "
Bitman (52) is currently terminating his contract at the end of an extraordinary campaign;
Denmark opened its way in the qualifying tournament for the qualifiers, where it passed modest teams such as Albania and Armenia, and finished with a belt marking victories over Lithuania and the Czech Republic.
"Arvidas Savonis came to me during the last window and said to me: 'We only ask for one thing - that we will not receive you in the same house in the World Cup qualifiers next year.' To receive such a compliment from someone like him, it's all worth it."
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"Sometimes it's convenient to play without knowing who is standing in front of you."
Erez Bitman (Photo: official website, FIBA)
Basketball is far from being the most popular sport in the Scandinavian country.
"Three weeks ago there was a big celebration here, because the handball team won the world championship," says Bitman, and demonstrates: "In some of the halls I visit, there are only goals and no baskets at all. Our recent successes have led to more exposure, more basketball clubs and more children. Who come to play, but it is still not where I would like to see the industry. "
He has been missing one player in particular in the last two games - the team's superstar, Ipa Lundberg, who scored 25.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the campaign;
Shortly before the gathering, he left the Polish Zelona Gora for the opportunity of his life in CSKA Moscow. The clash between the FIBA and Euroleague schedules meant that he could not be available to his Israeli coach in money time.
"The connection between me and where is much more than between a player and a coach. We have a special connection. When he called and told me that he was going to sign with CSKA, and could not get to the window, I felt at first that I was dropped 50 kilos, and you will deal with it now.
Getting to the last game in the campaign without him, after being with us for three and a half years, is neither normal nor logical.
"It's a huge pride, because a large part of the stage on the way to CSKA he got thanks to the team. I thought about him and remembered him during the game, when we reached the end of the clock and when we needed someone to create, penetrate and take the ball to the basket."
Watch the cruel and dramatic ending between Lithuania and Denmark
- And yet, you were close to victory and immigration.
"The Danes do not come from a basketball tradition and do not really know what level is out there. Some of our victories have been achieved because of that. Sometimes it is comfortable to play without knowing who is in front of you and where he was and what he did. You do not shake hands when you play against names like Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Jonas Match Ulysses. "
- Teams of your size have benefited from the absence of senior players in Europe.
Now you've learned what it's like to pay a price for that.
"Not many teams have the luxury of playing with Lundberg and Shabon Shields in both guard positions. In most of the windows we did not enjoy this matter too much, because neither Sweden nor Belarus are steeped in Euroleague and NBA players. This clash worked against us for the first time, but it is impossible to know how the game The decisive one against Lithuania would have evolved with where. Who said we would win? Maybe everyone would concentrate on it, and the others would not touch the ball, and we would lose by 15 points.
"These windows give the small teams a fair chance.
It knocks down top teams: Latvia, Belarus and Montenegro outside the European Championship, which is clearly due to the lack of Euroleague and NBA players.
If Turkey had not fought Shane Larkin to play in the last four games, it could have been out.
"Lithuania panicked after we beat it, and immediately jumped at the chance to host the last window as well. All its union management sat with us for a week at the hotel, and Savonis went after the team wherever it was, just to show the importance of the game. I hope I never get there "To the situation where he was the Lithuanian coach. An entire country sat and watched him, and I saw how it was all on his shoulders."
"Like they dropped a 50-pound load on me."
Where is Lundberg in CSKA (Photo: Official Website, M. Serbin, CSKA Basket)
Bitman began his career in the late 1990s as David Blatt's assistant at Hapoel Galil Elyon, then moved to Maccabi Rishon Lezion, won the Super League as Pini Gershon's second assistant and Blatt at Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2001, and worked under Erez Edelstein at Hapoel Jerusalem. As head coach, he coached short and partial terms in Bnei Herzliya, the Galilee and Haifa Haifa, he also coached Apollon Patras and Ghent, and in fact retired from coaching in 2012. He moved to manage the Sports Authority in the Jezreel Valley Regional Council, and in 2017 moved with his family to Copenhagen following an offer from the Danish Association. In parallel with his role on the team, he opened an academy for young people in collaboration with Hanan Coleman, and began conducting a state coaching course.
In Israel, unlike in Denmark, the national coach may work in parallel with the team. The fact that you only run games on the team does not hurt you?
"I still have the academy for young people, but if I had not coached the games for a whole year, it would have affected me. I felt I lacked day-to-day management. In Denmark the national team coach is banned from working in one of the league teams, to maintain ethics and have no opening here. I think "If a coach only works for the team, you have to fill the schedule for the whole year with lectures, advanced training and other activities."
- Did you receive offers to return to the coach in Israel?
"There were some tests in Israel and Europe, but the current layout suits me, because I teach the coaching course and develop Young players. "
- The Israeli coaches who are successful abroad, you in Denmark, Nano Ginzburg in the Czech national team and Oren Amiel in Nymburk, did not get a chance in the big teams in the country.
"I tried less in Israel, I was already out of business and switched to sports management. Maybe I did not adapt to the way things are done in Israel. What upsets me is that there are some teams that put a stripe on the Israeli coach, and this happens in the leading clubs.
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