Tiktekno: clip summarizing today's events in sport, 11.2/sport1
After a difficult start to the season, home losses and unconvincing ability, last night (Sunday) Maccabi Tel Aviv rose to second place in the Premier League table after a 78:95 victory over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the second derby of the season.
The Yellows now have a record of seven wins against three losses in the league, and by the time the team leaves for the break next Sunday, they will complete three more games in the local framework, the first of which will be tomorrow against Maccabi Ramat Gan.
Maccabi Tel Aviv took control of the game after a less than good first quarter, won all the next three quarters and stopped Hapoel to less than 20 points in each quarter, with Oded Ketch receiving double digit contributions from five players, with Bonzie Coulson above them all with 19 points and 9 rebounds , and Hasiel Rivero with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The hall was missed, and so were the players.
Dibartholomew last night/Odi Citiat
Maccabi Tel Aviv spoke before the game about a tense atmosphere following the recent series of negative results in the Euroleague, and following the previous loss in the derby.
The one who decided to play the role of motivator is again the chairman Shimon Mizrahi who entered the dressing room before the game and spoke to the players about the importance of the derby for the club, a speech that according to the club's people did not fall on deaf ears.
"Every game is important, but the derby has a completely different meaning.
I'm happy with how we responded, we weren't good defensively in the last period, that was our challenge for this game.
Hapoel still played well, but we did enough to get the victory, and that's what's important," said captain John DiBartholomew who scored 12 points, "Our crowd is amazing, and we miss them a lot this year.
It's hard to explain how much we miss him, this field was a fortress in the Euroleague, no team wanted to come here.
The fans came to the derby and there was a great atmosphere, they are an important reason why we were able to play like this."
The captain talked about the role he and Jake Cohen played in last night's victory, "Jake and I have a lot of experience in derbies.
There's tension before these games, and with the momentum we're in there was a bit more pressure.
Jake is the great professional, he is always ready when called upon.
He completely changed the game.
This is what we expect from him and from many of our leaders."
The one who received the compliments was Hasiel Rivero. The Cuban forward-center was from the start the leading interior player on the field, looked dominant and won almost every fight he had, with Oded Ketch also admitting at the end that he will have to learn how to use him more in games The league, "There is not a single player in the Premier League who can handle him physically," said one of the Maccabi people, "He plays too little."
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"Playing too little"?
Rivero with Sorkin last night/Audi Citiat
Lorenzo Brown was on the field last night for 15 minutes.
Maccabi planned for the veteran guard to share more minutes even though he is suffering from back pain and went to the floor with a shot, but a foul problem caused the professional team to give more minutes to John DiBartholomeo alongside Wade Baldwin, and the veteran captain excelled.
Brown will not dress tomorrow (18:50) for the game against Maccabi Ramat Gan, but various Maccabi officials did not rule out the possibility that on Friday against Hapoel Jerusalem he will be on the field again.
"Lorenzo wants to compete. He felt the order of the day, he has two weeks of rest during the team break, and according to his need and desire it will be decided whether to participate with him on Friday as well, although the general tendency is to give him a rest."
First up tomorrow is Joe Thomason.
The new Yellow Guard is expected to be part of the squad as well as Antonios Cleveland and James Webb who were not listed in last night's game.
Those who are supposed to complete the roster are apparently Wade Baldwin and Hasiel Rivero.
"This is our challenge, at Maccabi we play a lot of games, and we need to focus game by game. We will enjoy this victory and focus on Ramat Gan. We cannot change the schedule of games, we are chasing Hapoel for first place in the league and we would like to achieve it," said DiBartholomeo.
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