By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Khimki pulled up a big win on the road against Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv improving their record to a 15-11. It was a key result for the Russian side as they improve their playoff chances with it.
“It was a big accomplishment, in my opinion, to beat Maccabi in this environment. Especially, how they played the second half. We put them to play under the big pressure leading all the game. They made some big triples wanting to put a pressure on us. We managed to win the game with some good decisions in the end. We played selflessly and moved the ball well.“, said coach Georgios Bartzokas.
Alexey Shved recorded his career-high in assists tonight and that Bartzokas didn’t miss it.
“Alexey had 12 assists and that was very important. This win was very important for us for our future in the Euroleague“, added the Greek coach.
Thomas Robinson wasn’t the Khimki’s roster tonight as he was punished by the club. Bartzokas made it clear that he wants players who can execute his game plan.
“I want to speak about guys who wear our uniform. I want to go until the end with guys who follow the plan. Whoever is positive in this process, I am happy to coach him. Thomas is still our player. He will play the next games, but as I told you everyone needs to be on the same page. This is the Euroleague. It isn’t about the potential, it is not about talent it is about team spirit.”, concluded Bartzokas.
Losing coach Neven Spahija called the game against Khimki the most important game of the season for his team. However, his team fell short and Spahija was not happy with anything, including the calls.
“It was a couple of times here in this room the opponent’s coach came and said that referee stole the game from them. I hope Khimki’s coach didn’t say that. I don’t want to talk about them, but I would be very happy if he didn’t complain about that” stated Spahija.
“We did so many mistakes. It’s hard to understand it. At the end of the day, I am the coach and I am the one with the most responsibility. We did mistakes like passing the ball right in opponents hands. That kind of things is killing. I don’t want to say that we didn’t’ fight. First 20 minutes we played very bad. In the second half we found a way, but unfortunately, we did so many mistakes”, said Spahija.