Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv want to start the Euroleague campaign on Thursday with good spirits, and winning a title would definitely help achieve this goal. On Sunday, they will be able to do just that when they face Hapoel Eilat in the Winner's cup final (8:45 pm local time, 1:45 pm ET - live broadcast on 5SPORT).
Ante Zizic suffers a small tear in the back thigh muscle following the game against Maccabi Rishon Lezion in the quarterfinals. He is expected to be out for about six weeks.
Derrick Williams, Cameron Taylor, and Nadav Jankovic will not be available to coach Giannis Sfairopoulos as well. On the other hand, Yiftach Ziv's ankle injury in the semifinal against Hapoel Jerusalem is not particularly serious, and he will be on the roster for the final.
The full roster: John DiBartolomeo, Scottie Wilbekin, Keenan Evans, Ido Menchel, Angelo Caloiaro, Jalen Reynolds, Roman Sorkin, Oz Blayzer, Jake Cohen, James Nunnally, Oded Brandwein, and Yiftach Ziv.
"We have two goals for the game", said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos, "The main one is to win the title, but we also want to develop our style of play. We face a very good team with good momentum, so we'll have to be very focused on both sides of the court".
Oz Blayzer added: "It's the last test we will have before the Euroleague starts, it's a title game, and we want to win it and celebrate with our fans."