By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Ahead of the EuroLeague Playoffs series between AS Monaco and Maccabi Tel Aviv, on paper the most balanced of the four between the 4th seed and 5th seed, head coaches Sasa Obradovic and Oded Kattash spoke about the upcoming matches on their respective club’s official websites.
Sasa Obradovic highlighted Maccabi‘s performances at home. “We have been working all season with the aim of competing in this kind of series. We will have to make the right choices, we have to expect a very physical series. Maccabi played great basketball in the Euroleague, it has an excellent roster and a top coaching staff. We have points in common with Maccabi, especially in terms of individual qualities. We have home-court advantage but their advantage at home is huge, we know that. Two guys have exceptional talent at home (Lorenzo Brown and Wade Baldwin), they can score and create, bring attention to themselves, and liberate others”, the Serbian head coach first stated.
Then, he went on to praise the Israeli side for their other abilities. “Maccabi is very successful in the offensive rebound, this will be a key sector as well. The mental plan will also be decisive, how you will react to pressure, to decisions, playing hard… Maccabi has the experience, and so do we. The little things will make the difference. Last season, we let Sloukas take the free throws in Game 5… We’re in Game 1, we’re going to go all out to get where we want to go. On paper, Mike James is the team’s third-best defender after John Brown and Alpha Diallo. Our fans are going to have a big role to play, we know it will be madness at Maccabi”, he added.
Elsewhere, Oded Kattash also talked about the upcoming EuroLeague Playoffs series. “It’s absolutely exciting. We feel as prepared and healthy as possible, aware that we’re going to have a very difficult match-up on a very home field. And so it requires us to play an almost perfect game. The two games against them were not easy, certainly not in the away game where they were dominant, and also in Israel when we came back from behind. We believe in ourselves, and we know that we are in a much better place, but it is not promising anything. You can’t stop them completely, you have to limit them and play on the percentages. We’ll live with difficult shots like they know how to do, and the rest of the things have to be done with a team effort”, Maccabi’s head coach said.
“You can’t think too far ahead, you can’t build on 4-3 games. You have to win quarter by quarter and every game is an opportunity for us. The game is going to be very physical. They are the best rebounding team in the competition, this is something we have had difficulty with in the past. You have to be focused on every move and the results will come. There aren’t many like Yad Eliyahu, there aren’t any courts that know how to create a similar atmosphere. Every amount of crowd that comes pushes us. I think the experiences at the hands of Eliyahu will make us want to do a good job to bring the decision home as much as possible”, Oded Kattash added.
AS Monaco and Maccabi Tel Aviv will open the part, as Game 1 of their best-of-five series will be played at 20:15 CET in the Salle Gaston Médecin arena.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague