You don't get style points in basketball and there were none to be had anyway tonight in Ashdod. Maccabi Fox Tel Aviv survived a slugfest and remained perfect in league play after a 72:66 win over Ashdod.
In a way, it was a perfect preparation game for a match up against Panathinaikos but there's no doubt that Maccabi will have to do a whole lot better in order to get a win in Greece. DJ Seeley provided a much needed spark from the bench and scored 13, as did Guy Pnini who got 5 in the last two minutes. Andrew Goudelock had 12 and Maik Zirbes had 11. Maccabi who didn't lead until the fourth quarter playes Panathinaikos on Thursday.
"It wasn't pretty", said Pnini, "I'm glad we showed determination. We're still not where we want to be in terms of defense. We're still too soft on the defensive boards and in general. We have a lot of players who can create on offense and if we need to play isolation basketball to be effective, that's what we'll do". Coach Rami Hadar said: "We still have problems on defense. I'm still not happy but there are signs of improvment. We have a long road ahead of us