After a wonderful season in Europe in which they stopped only at the semi-final stage, Hapoel Holon started their new European campaign on the right foot last night (Monday), with an 81:84 victory at the end of extra time over the Polish Legia Warsaw, in the opening game of the season of the FIBA Champions League. Eric Green, the newly acquired player impressed in the debut with 19 points.
"A win is a win and that's what's important for us, certainly at this stage of the start of the season and more so in an away game. I'm happy that we achieved it as a team, but we have a number of things that we need to improve. We started the game well but we recorded too many turnovers that gave the opponent momentum and the possibility to come back for the game," noted team captain Chris Johnson at the end, who recorded a great game with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The club was happy to see the character displayed by the players, which was expressed in erasing a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter, including an impressive 0:15 run.
"I'm proud of the players who came back from behind in the last quarter and showed character. We knew how to get back into the game one step at a time in a formation with two talls, and we did it as an adjustment to the course of the game. We were unable to score from outside the arc and I felt that we needed to start playing inside," stated the team's coach Guy Goodes at the end.
Guy Goodes, photography: Oded Karni
"We started the game well, but Legia knew how to come back well. They kept well, scored hard shots and we took advantage of our turnovers for easy points, something we improved on in the second half."
The club complimented the team's purchasing guard, Eric Green, who impressed in his debut with 19 points.
"Our players scored big shots that helped secure the victory," they said.
Despite the victory, the team noted the phenomenon of losing the ball as a point to think about and something for which they will demand to find a solution.
"We lost too many balls and gave them 15 points as a gift. This is something that will need to be corrected in the future," they said.
Now the team will return to Israel and begin its preparations for the opening game of the season in the Winner League this Friday, where the Purples were assigned to an intriguing home season opening game against Hapoel Jerusalem.
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