At the end of a close and dramatic game, Maccabi Tel Aviv lost yesterday (Sunday) at the Shlomo Group Hall to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the derby with the result 96:95, suffering its third league loss of the season within the league, and as a result lost the top of the table to the city rival.
If anyone else among the yellows needed proof of the importance and even the team's dependence on the injured Lorenzo Braun, who is suffering from an ankle sprain he suffered in the Euroleague game against Elba Berlin last Thursday and is expected to be out of action for the next three weeks, he got it once more and especially in the last attack of the game Bonzi lost a ball Coulson who actually came up in the game.
"It was a game of runs. We didn't start the game focused enough, neither offensively nor defensively. We didn't know how to maintain the advantage we reached. We have a lot to learn before the next meetings with Hapoel Tel Aviv," stated Oded Ketch at the end.
"We will have to come more concentrated, we have to stop them on a lower score. If we want to win away games, we have to defend much better."
At the end of the game, the club expressed dissatisfaction with the refereeing displays and especially with the referee's decision not to give Wade Baldwin three free throws with 9 seconds remaining, after a foul was committed on him.
"It came down to final moves, referee decisions. I don't know what happened in the last attack, there was a feeling that the atmosphere here affected everyone. We have to concentrate on what we have to do," Ketch commented on the case.
Oded Ketch.
The yellows are not satisfied with the refereeing in the derby, photo: Alan Shiver
Unlike the first derby game of the season that took place two months ago at the Menorah Mitvatim Hall, and the derby game in the final of the Winner Cup, which both had in common a complete yellow supremacy under the baskets, this time Danny Franco was at the service of Chinano Onwako, who looked great in the last quarter and proved his importance for his team, which took 35 Rebounds - five more than her opponent and completely dominated under the baskets with 50 points in the paint compared to only 20 of the guest.
"We need to play a much better defense with or without Lorenzo. We will have to see and learn, we need to do a much better job defensively. Onuaku's size is a size we know how to deal with from the Euroleague. Throughout the game they changed defenses and matchups, changed lineups. Not in every attack you get the punch you want. Our problem was not offensive in the game."
Ketch concluded.
"Onuaku's size is a size we know how to deal with from the Euroleague", photo: Alan Shiver
In the absence of the dominant center and engine of Oded Ketch's team, the rest of his teammates had to take command and carry the burden, and those who did so were Wade Baldwin and John DiBartholomeo, who had his best game of the season on both sides of the court and contributed 15 points already in the half and 18 in the entire game.
"They made stops in the defense and punished him in the last game which was the story of the game, we didn't make moves and we didn't get stops. We talked about trying to hold them to fewer points in the half than we conceded in the first half and we didn't do that," DiBartholomew shared his feelings at the end.
After the match, Oded Ketch's apprentices will return to the European frameworks when later this week they will go to Athens and will be hosted on Friday by Olympiakos Piraeus at the Hall of Peace and Brotherhood for a game as part of the 21st round of the Euroleague.
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