Starting off their EuroLeague season with a record of 1:3, Maccabi will face Barcelona as they hope to create a positive momentum on the road. The Catalans lost their first tow games in the EuroLeague but have since managed to bounce back with wins against Bayern Munich and Darussafaka.
Without Jeremy Pargo who is still out due to his back injury, Maccabi’s coaching staff got some good news with Scottie Wilbekin joining the team’s practices at the Balaugrana. Throughout the years Maccabi managed to win only twice at the Palau Balaugrana. Maccabi won their first away game against Barca in 1982 and in 2005 thanks to a tremendous performance by Tal Burstein. The yellows will try to end the 13 year old drought this Thursday.
“We started off with an easy practice since we flew in early and it was very important to do a calmer practice”, said assistant coach Guy Goodes. “There’s no doubt that this game is different from our derby. This is a tough game against a very talented team that has a lot of depth. We need to be at our best to not make the mistakes which we did against Olympiacos, mistakes that were made due to lack of focus, in order to get away with the win”.
“This is a tough home court with a great atmosphere l, the fans are pushing their team and it’s very hard to hear one another” Goodes emphasized. “ it’s a gym that if you want to get a win you have to be very focused from the beginning on the little things, execute the game plan in the best possible way and to shoot well from outside”.
“Last year we came here and it didn’t end up well”, Goodes added. “This year we have a roster that can compete in these places, the derby gave us a good feeling, but the EuroLeague is the EuroLeague and the domestic league is the domestic league. Maybe it’s time to get a win ina difficult place”.
Barcelona made an almost complete overhaul to their roster from last year as they added Chris Singleton (Panathinaikos), Kevin Pangos (Zalgiris Kaunas), Artem Pustovy (Obradorio), Kyle Kuric (Zenit st.Petersburg),the Catalans also got Kevin Seraphin and Adam Hanga back from injuries.
Without Jeremy Pargo who is still out due to his back injury, Maccabi’s coaching staff got some good news with Scottie Wilbekin joining the team’s practices at the Balaugrana. Throughout the years Maccabi managed to win only twice at the Palau Balaugrana. Maccabi won their first away game against Barca in 1982 and in 2005 thanks to a tremendous performance by Tal Burstein. The yellows will try to end the 13 year old drought this Thursday.
“We started off with an easy practice since we flew in early and it was very important to do a calmer practice”, said assistant coach Guy Goodes. “There’s no doubt that this game is different from our derby. This is a tough game against a very talented team that has a lot of depth. We need to be at our best to not make the mistakes which we did against Olympiacos, mistakes that were made due to lack of focus, in order to get away with the win”.
“This is a tough home court with a great atmosphere l, the fans are pushing their team and it’s very hard to hear one another” Goodes emphasized. “ it’s a gym that if you want to get a win you have to be very focused from the beginning on the little things, execute the game plan in the best possible way and to shoot well from outside”.
“Last year we came here and it didn’t end up well”, Goodes added. “This year we have a roster that can compete in these places, the derby gave us a good feeling, but the EuroLeague is the EuroLeague and the domestic league is the domestic league. Maybe it’s time to get a win ina difficult place”.
Barcelona made an almost complete overhaul to their roster from last year as they added Chris Singleton (Panathinaikos), Kevin Pangos (Zalgiris Kaunas), Artem Pustovy (Obradorio), Kyle Kuric (Zenit st.Petersburg),the Catalans also got Kevin Seraphin and Adam Hanga back from injuries.