Outside the Lines, 2.2/Video Editing: Ziv Steiner
After the difficult week in Spain, last night (Saturday) Maccabi Tel Aviv came back to smile a little after achieving a difficult victory over Hapoel Holon away 84:86.
Thanks to the victory, the Yellows climbed to the fifth place in the table with five wins and three losses, and already tomorrow (18:00) they will meet Hapoel Eilat at Menorah Hall for another make-up game.
Maccabi dominated throughout most of the stages of the game, but was unable to escape beyond the 6-7 difference, and the record difference in the last quarter was 9 points.
Holon, mainly thanks to a very good evening outside the arc, stayed in the game and managed to bite the difference all the time, but in the end the yellows managed to come out with the victory thanks to the ability of Bonzie Coulson who excelled with 19 points, despite his incident with the purple fans which we will get to.
The Yellows showed up for the game without Wade Baldwin, who was rested after the load on him, and gave Lorenzo Brown, who looked far from fit, only 10 minutes in which he was weak.
Brown and Baldwin are supposed to alternate between them for the game against Hapoel Eilat.
"We led by 9 points, it's in Holon with excellent three-point shooters, an atmosphere, an incoming three-pointer and they're crazy. Every game is natural, we come back running, we had to stop him and we stopped him. We learned from previous cases. We'll try not to get to that again, if we get to that , we will be more prepared," concluded Roman Sorkin who scored 16 points in 21 minutes.
Sorkin scored another 3-pointer in the game and continued his good trend with shooting from outside the arc: "Last year you asked me why I don't shoot, and that's something I want to do in my game. I worked on it in the summer, a lot on the mental side, last year I didn't think about shooting, this year I'm playing With another high, I have opportunities to throw, glad it went in and I'd love to keep scoring. If it keeps going in, it's good for everyone."
An unusual incident with a Holon fan.
Coulson/Audi Citiat
The game was clouded by an incident during the second quarter.
Bonzie Colson jumped over the Holon bench to save a ball and got very close to the Holon fans standing behind the bench.
One of the fans pushed Coulson and the player approached the fans, when the quick intervention of Maccabi Tel Aviv team manager Ami Biton, together with the team players who came to help, prevented the incident from developing.
Maccabi Tel Aviv rushed to contact the security personnel in the hall, and demanded to place security guards near their bench, and to increase the security at every timeout.
The team turned to the security guards several times with complaints about the harsh things being said to them behind the bench, until finally the security guards were stationed in the second half.
The fan who pushed Coulson and another fan who was next to him were called for questioning by the police today.
"It is unacceptable what happened today," said one of Maccabi's men after the game, "the hall in Holon usually provides a warm atmosphere, but when it becomes violent it is excessive."
At the end of the game, the Yellows left the hall in Holon without further incidents, despite security concerns that the atmosphere might flare up further as a result of the incident.
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"I don't think any team in the world plays with such a load."
Sorkin/Udi Citiat
Last night's game was the third in a journey of 11 games in 23 days for the Yellows.
Tomorrow they will meet Hapoel Eilat, but the load is showing its signs.
Maccabi landed only at 6 pm on Friday from the trip to Spain, and the players and staff are no longer afraid to talk about the difficult conditions they go through on these trips.
"We are in a difficult game schedule, I don't think any team in the world plays in such a schedule, almost every two days, it's a little abnormal," said Roman Sorkin, "We don't come with claims to anyone, the war and the situation and games need to be completed. A complex and difficult situation, it's our job as professionals to come Excited. When you play against Maccabi Tel Aviv, even when I played against them, you come at the height of madness. And that's part of playing at Maccabi Tel Aviv, it's a kind of blessing, but it's also difficult. You're the team that wants to win, and they come to you at the height of madness."
Sorkin added on the current situation and said: "We returned from Vitoria in a 5-hour flight and we didn't practice, but that's why we're here and that's why they chose us. The league is improving year by year, we lost some games we shouldn't have lost, now we have to collect the victories, that's all It's up to us, we know what to do. We need to do the job, the excuses are over."
More on the same topic:
Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball
Bonzie Coulson
Oded Ketch
Hapoel Holon