Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv finished their preparations for the game against Barcelona as they'll try to improve their record in the EuroLeague standings (11:10) in order to put themselves in a better position as the playoff race enters its final straight. The yellows knowing that every game can become a "do or die" will face a tough Barcelona with a new coach.
Coach Spahija: "Tomorrow is another EuroLeague game, this game is so important and it's another important step if we want to fight for the playoffs, I think that till now we never lost such opportunity but it's going to be very difficult, their results says nothing about their quality, they've changed their coach but it doesn't mean much for us. Barcelona have an amazing roster, we know how good they are and how good they are able to play. They are in the second place in the ACB standings, they are coming here with nothing to lose, but we are ready, we did a good job in the last two days and put attention on the details and I hope we're going to show it tomorrow".
Kane: "We really want to play these guys again after what they did to us in Barcelona, every game is a must win for us but tomorrow is a big and an important game. We had a couple of good days in practice and we're looking forward for this challenge. Every time a team beats you by 20+ points you always want to play them again to get revenge, we really want to come out and establish the tempo and the way the game is going and really play physical with these guys as they really gave it to us right from the very start (in Barcelona) and we had no way in getting back to that game, tomorrow we want to pose our will early and try to get this game over with".
Cole: "it's an important game, we're fighting for our position in the playoffs, and we want to protect our home court from that aspect. You always want to try and get a little bit of payback but at this point of the season we want to make sure we secure our spot so whether we beat them last time or they beat us last time it doesn't matter, what matter is we need this win in order to keep our position so that's enough motivation for me, I don't need that extra motivation but I'm sure that when the game start I'm pretty sure I'm going to lean on that for a little bit but all the motivation we need is we're in a playoff position fighting spot and we needgot to keep that spot".
Coach Spahija: "Tomorrow is another EuroLeague game, this game is so important and it's another important step if we want to fight for the playoffs, I think that till now we never lost such opportunity but it's going to be very difficult, their results says nothing about their quality, they've changed their coach but it doesn't mean much for us. Barcelona have an amazing roster, we know how good they are and how good they are able to play. They are in the second place in the ACB standings, they are coming here with nothing to lose, but we are ready, we did a good job in the last two days and put attention on the details and I hope we're going to show it tomorrow".
Kane: "We really want to play these guys again after what they did to us in Barcelona, every game is a must win for us but tomorrow is a big and an important game. We had a couple of good days in practice and we're looking forward for this challenge. Every time a team beats you by 20+ points you always want to play them again to get revenge, we really want to come out and establish the tempo and the way the game is going and really play physical with these guys as they really gave it to us right from the very start (in Barcelona) and we had no way in getting back to that game, tomorrow we want to pose our will early and try to get this game over with".
Cole: "it's an important game, we're fighting for our position in the playoffs, and we want to protect our home court from that aspect. You always want to try and get a little bit of payback but at this point of the season we want to make sure we secure our spot so whether we beat them last time or they beat us last time it doesn't matter, what matter is we need this win in order to keep our position so that's enough motivation for me, I don't need that extra motivation but I'm sure that when the game start I'm pretty sure I'm going to lean on that for a little bit but all the motivation we need is we're in a playoff position fighting spot and we needgot to keep that spot".