Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv's journey for a playoff berth got slightly tougher with the loss on Tuesday, but Giannis Sfairopoulos's squad still believes their talent will bring them to the top 8 as they host Valencia (Thursday, 21:00, Live on Sport5 - Channel 55) for a do or die contest.

Two days after facing CSKA Moscow, the best offensive group in the EuroLeague, the schedule summoned Valencia, who's right behind the Russian side scoring 82.6 points per game. The Oranges hold a 14:13 record, sitting 1.5 games out of the final playoff. Klemen Preplic leads the team with 12.2 points per game as the Yellow & Blue will have another challenging task stopping EuroLeague's player of the month, Nikola Kalinic.



"After yesterday's loss, the most important part is pushing the players mentally to fight tomorrow", Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos about the preparations towards Thursday's matchup. "We have today and tomorrow to get ready, as we face up against a very good team with many different scoring options. Tactically, compared to our last game, we need to be more consistent and effective through most parts of the game, not having too many gaps, while mentally, we need to fight hard. These two aspects are the most important things we need to work on towards Thursday".

The Greek coach commented about how he picks himself mentally after another tight loss: "I fight for everything in life, so I'm ready to fight all the time. This is my character, and this is how I reached where I'm at professionally. Although we were behind by a large margin, we fought all the way back, giving maximum effort. We need to learn from our mistakes, and we have a big challenge to overcome this obstacle".



"Every game in this part of the season is almost a do or die type of game", Added Sandy Cohen about the situation going forward. "We can't let any contest slip away, so hopefully, we will be on top of our game, be consistent through four quarters and pull out the win. It can mentally drain losing that many close games in one season, but I feel more motivated after Tuesday's loss. I think we will come out motivated and ready to play".

Chris Jones spoke towards Valencia: "We aren't thinking about the last matchup against Valencia, just focusing on ourselves and clarifying the small details being more aggressive on defense, leading to a better offensive rhythm".

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Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv showed a lot of character and their yellow heart on Thursday night, beating Valencia 84:72 in Menora Mivtachim Arena. After a tight first-half clash, Giannis Sfairopoulos's squad ramped it up on both ends of the court, scoring 51 second-half points while stopping the second-ranked offense on 72 points compared to their 82 points on average.

With the win, the Israeli champions concluded a four-game losing skid, improving their record to 11:15, keeping the playoff hopes alive. Tyler Dorsey led Maccabi scorers with 17 points and 3 steals, Chris Jones and Omri Casspi (5 rebounds) each scored 14 points, and Ante Zizic closed an efficient night in the paint totaling 13 points and 6 rebounds.



Game Recap:

Chris Jones, Scottie Wilbekin, Omri Casspi, Angelo Caloiaro, and Ante Zizic started for the Yellow & Blue while the Oranges opened with Sam Van Rossom, Joan Sastre, Vanja Marinkovic, Louis Labeyrie, and Bojan Dubljevic.

Casspi was active on the offensive end scoring back-to-back buckets in the paint, but Van Rossom responded with two consecutive layups, and Labeyrie's 7 points led to the visitors 5 point advantage, 6:11. 

Elijah Bryant came off the bench and scored a typical basket under the basket after a Jones assist, and John DiBartolomeo rolled in two after a beautiful drive to the rim while on the other end, Klemen Prepelic knocked down a deep three, closing the first ten minutes at 14:18.

Caloiaro two straight back door moves led to points, and Dragan Bender scored four consecutive points directing a Maccabi 9:2 stretch, giving the hosts a 3 point margin, 23:20. Tyler Dorsey totaled 7 points in two and a half minutes, as four of them came from the free-throw line while Dubljevic answered for the Spanish side with five of his own and Preplic with another triple tied the contest at 28.



Casspi surpassed his season-high, scoring 9 first-half points with back-to-back floaters, but Dubljevic scored 9 of his own, giving Valencia a one-point edge, 33:35 at halftime.

Jones led a quick fastbreak and dished an assist to Zizic inside, who converted a three-point play, and in the next possession, the Croatian big man found Caloiaro open from deep retrieving the lead, 39:35. The Yellow & Blue offensive surge continued as Jones drilled back-to-back triples off assists by Wilbekin and Caliaro, but Van Rossom and Nicola Kalinic responded from deep, keeping the score tight, 49:48.

Both teams exchanged momentums as Valencia scored 5 straight points, but the Yellow & Blue closed the third quarter with an 11:3 run as Othello Hunter grabbed the offensive board and laid in his first two points of the night, beating the buzzer. 62:56 heading into the final 10 minutes.

After a beautiful basket play sharing the ball from hand to hand, Dorsey drilled an open three-pointer who followed with a floater on the verge of the 24-second shot clock keeping a 6 point margin. Bender stopped an alley-oop try on the defensive end and recovered a Dorsey miss to complete an outstanding display, as Zizic grabbed another offensive board and laid in two, giving Maccabi a double-digit margin, 71:61.

Jones hit 4 from the charity strike, and Dorsey added two of his own, completing six straight successful free throws, as Casspi drained a shot from behind the arc and added a floater, concluding the contest. Maccabi ends its four-game losing skid with an 84:72 win over Valencia.

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