The Israeli playoffs continue as Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv will face Hapoel Tel Aviv at the "Drive-In" arena. The yellows won the first game at the Menora 89:67, game 2 will tip off tomorrow (Monday, 21:00 local, Sport5).
"We know that it's derby and that there will be a tough atmosphere", said coach Giannis Sfairopoulos. "We need to stay focus, we know how it's going to be. Basketball wise we know them and they know us; we need to do our job the best way we can".
About Maccabi's advantage in the paint coach Sfairopoulos said: "We are very athletic, we need to use our advantages not just with our bigs but with all the players. I think that defensively we need to play together and cooperate in order to stop the good things of our opponents, and on the offensive end we need to take advantage of our speed and our athleticism to attack and to play our game in one on one and in fastbreaks".
"Hapoel is playing very good as a team", coach concluded. "They are a tough team that fights, they have fighters, shooters in different positions, I don't think that we need to isolate one or two of them, we need to do a good job on all of them because they have 8-9 players in a very high level and we need to play against all of them".
Regarding the problems in Greek basketball with Olympiacos and the implications on the Israeli basketball, coach Sfairopoulos said: "I don't know the culture and the mentality of the decision makers here, I'm still not here enough time to address this matter, I'm still learning the league in Israel, the atmosphere, and the consequences. I think that in general, not just in Israel or in Greece, teams are more demanding for equal chances, I think that in general we need to be wiser and think about how we need to do but for sure we need to change because basketball need to move forward to the future that will have new ideas and new ways that will be more attractive in how games are played".
"I believe that basketball should progress all the time, you need to find new ideas and they need to be more attractive. I was in Olympiacos and I know that these things happen all the time, not just this season, they've tried to solve it in various ways an when it didn't work they went for the extreme".
Tarik Black spoke of the two overtime derbies: "The matchup hasn't changed, the rosters remain the same, and the environment definitely plays into it and there were some circumstances that took place during the game that played into out of the game and the outcome of it and how it was played out, but we have to move forward, we're looking ahead there's a new playoff game".
Regarding the keys to win the series Tarik said: "It all starts on defense, defense wins championships, and it is true to me and to all the players. It's a team effort, the players helped me on defense and I helped them, it's not a one man show, we all wear the Maccabi jersey together, we want to win the championship together and to come to every gym we play in as a team and as one unit, and if we do that together it'll be very hard to stop us".
"We know that it's derby and that there will be a tough atmosphere", said coach Giannis Sfairopoulos. "We need to stay focus, we know how it's going to be. Basketball wise we know them and they know us; we need to do our job the best way we can".
About Maccabi's advantage in the paint coach Sfairopoulos said: "We are very athletic, we need to use our advantages not just with our bigs but with all the players. I think that defensively we need to play together and cooperate in order to stop the good things of our opponents, and on the offensive end we need to take advantage of our speed and our athleticism to attack and to play our game in one on one and in fastbreaks".
"Hapoel is playing very good as a team", coach concluded. "They are a tough team that fights, they have fighters, shooters in different positions, I don't think that we need to isolate one or two of them, we need to do a good job on all of them because they have 8-9 players in a very high level and we need to play against all of them".
Regarding the problems in Greek basketball with Olympiacos and the implications on the Israeli basketball, coach Sfairopoulos said: "I don't know the culture and the mentality of the decision makers here, I'm still not here enough time to address this matter, I'm still learning the league in Israel, the atmosphere, and the consequences. I think that in general, not just in Israel or in Greece, teams are more demanding for equal chances, I think that in general we need to be wiser and think about how we need to do but for sure we need to change because basketball need to move forward to the future that will have new ideas and new ways that will be more attractive in how games are played".
"I believe that basketball should progress all the time, you need to find new ideas and they need to be more attractive. I was in Olympiacos and I know that these things happen all the time, not just this season, they've tried to solve it in various ways an when it didn't work they went for the extreme".
Tarik Black spoke of the two overtime derbies: "The matchup hasn't changed, the rosters remain the same, and the environment definitely plays into it and there were some circumstances that took place during the game that played into out of the game and the outcome of it and how it was played out, but we have to move forward, we're looking ahead there's a new playoff game".
Regarding the keys to win the series Tarik said: "It all starts on defense, defense wins championships, and it is true to me and to all the players. It's a team effort, the players helped me on defense and I helped them, it's not a one man show, we all wear the Maccabi jersey together, we want to win the championship together and to come to every gym we play in as a team and as one unit, and if we do that together it'll be very hard to stop us".