The Israeli national team is considering a change: "Too many players are busying themselves"

The players left the hall angry after a difficult meeting, the team held a conversation late into the night at the end of the loss to Sweden just before the Eurobasket: "We need to put the ego aside."

Blatt: "We didn't come with the right approach."

Mekel: "We did not underestimate, this could be a wake-up call"

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29/08/2022

Monday, August 29, 2022, 08:04

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Tikteknu: today's summary clip, 29.8 (Sport1)

Great concern in the Israeli national team after the 95:83 loss to the Swedish national team last night (Sunday) in Tel Aviv as part of the eighth round of the 2023 World Championship qualifiers. The national team considered into the night the steps they will take until the opening of the European Championship in four days, when in 48 hours they will fly to Prague.

The team's extended coaching and management staff remained in the coaches' room at the venue long after all the players, fans and security had left, discussing the options before them.

Even earlier, a meeting lasting more than half an hour was held in which coach Guy Goodes and some of the players spoke, with the main topics that came up in the conversation being the attitude and lack of commitment shown in recent times.

After that, the players began to leave the hall, with the security team turning most of them away from a side exit and not through the crowd that was waiting for them, which did not suit Hapoel Tel Aviv forward Tomer Ginat, who was angry at the decision and decided to meet the crowd on his way out.

The team is considering a last minute change.

DiBartholomew (Photo: Danny Maron)

"We are in a very difficult situation, a few days before the championship," one of the team members admitted during the night, "this is the stage where each of the players and the people around the team have to put their egos aside and understand that there is a team here. There are too many players here who are busying themselves. It's time for a change , otherwise we will end the Eurobasket with a big failure."

The team is considering making a last-minute change in the squad for the championship.

Last night, John Dibartholomau and Noam Dovrat did not dress for the game, after Gabi Chachashvili, Yiftah Ziv, Niv Mashgav and the injured Bar Timur were released before that.

After it was decided not to dress Dibartolomeu, the only citizen in the squad, voices started coming from his camp that he would prefer not to go to the championship in this situation, something that the team did not like very much.

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A traumatic evening.

Tamir Blatt (Photo: Kobi Eliyahu)

And there was also a very traumatic game.

Israel fell behind in the opener against the Swedes, who until last night had won only two games in the World Cup qualifiers, but good minutes by Yam Madar gave them a 24:28 advantage, but that's it.

The Swedes ran to a double-digit lead, Israel managed to reduce it to minus three in the last quarter and was unable to turn it around.

Apart from Madar who finished with 27 points, and good minutes in Roman Sorkin's offense, no one lived up to expectations from him.

Danny Avdia who scored 13 points "managed" to finish with the lowest plus-minus index in the team: minus 20. Jake Cohen did not participate at all in the second half.

"We didn't come with the right attitude, maybe we underestimated the value of the other team a little and that's a shame, because we really didn't perform on the defensive side and we need to come focused to the European Championship," said Tamir Blatt at the end who scored 8 points, "There are days when something doesn't come together and this was one of those days. We We will have to see a video and the most important thing is to stay together and believe in ourselves. We are starting the European Championship for which we have been waiting for many years and we have to look different. I don't bother with the lineups, you have to ask Guy (Goodes) that. I believe that everyone who steps on the field leaves everything ".

A few days to the European Championship, the situation is worrying.

Avdia on the national team's bench (photo: Kobi Eliyahu)

Captain Gal Mekel said: "This can be a wake-up call and it's up to us what we take from these two bad games, I believe in us, we showed that we can deal with a lot of teams, but if we don't do the things that set us apart, then we can also lose For each team. First of all, defensively we are scattered, not concentrated and let's say that everyone does their own habits and we don't follow the game plan as one unit, and we see it and it's simply a matter of concentration. In attack, what has distinguished us in recent years is the distribution of the ball and the flow, the support , some actions in the attack and not breaking drills, and that kind of panic. If we get back to our flow, we'll look good. If we don't get back, then we'll be stuck."

Meckle added: "We didn't underestimate, kudos to the Swedes who played very well today. I think we lost the game, it's not that they won. They played very well, but we weren't at the level we expect from ourselves and it can go either way - or we now drop the The head, and we saw that it affected us a bit in free throws, in open throws and things like that, or we look for a moment at what happened last week, raise our heads, believe in each other and come to give the head at the end of the week in Prague."

On the floor, the captain and coach Guy Goodes spoke with Danny Avdia, when Mekel said: "There is no doubt that he is a strength and our most senior player, and on the offensive and defensive level he can contribute in every aspect of the game. There is an element here that we need very concentrated in both defense and attack and we We will do everything to make it that way. He really is the most positive there is and wants the team to succeed the most, without a drop of ego and without papers, and we as a team have to do everything for him to feel good and feel fluent, because he will help us. He is a force we need him."

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