By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
If there’s an extra thing that Maccabi Tel Aviv accomplished last night with the victory against Olympiacos in Piraeus, is showing to the EuroLeague world that they are back for mean business.
Sure, the Israelis have won three games in a row (after downing Fenerbahce at home and Unics Kazan on the road) but none of the previous two victories arrived as emphatically as the one vs the Reds.
Maccabi played an excellent game for 30 minutes (it was enough), profiting fat by the talent and individual offensive charisma of its players that knew how and when to strike. Meanwhile, a high-motor defense utilized their athleticism in an almost ideal manner, pushing Olympiacos to seek alternative scoring options that often looked desperate.
Andrew Goudelock agrees that his team’s most recent output confirms that something fine is cooked indeed in the Israelis’ camp.
“We needed a statement win like this one”, he told Eurohoops. “Olympiacos is a very good team and they play really well at home. But we took the crowd out of the equation. And we were the ones that controlled the game. At least most of it.”
Taking under a consideration the adverse conditions of this victory, given the opponent’s stature, the unfriendly arena and that his team is still trying to find chemistry amidst injury problems, is it possible that this is the biggest win of Maccabi so far in the season?
“You can say that. Every win is a big win. The victory against Fenerbahce was a pretty good one too. We’ve been playing very well as of late. And every result counts.”
You’d have to be near blind to overlook the vast improvement that Maccabi has undergone over recent weeks. The fluidity in offense has gone to another level with more and more guys assuming key roles on the floor and the increased determination each player shows on the other often erects defensive barriers that seem to repel every enemy attack. We saw both on great extent last night in “Peace and Friendship” arena.
These modifications didn’t come out of nowhere of course, and their source is obviously traced on the guy who is sitting at the team’s bench. When we asked Goudelock how many things changed after Rami Hadar was promoted to head coach, his answer was clear.
“A lot! He’s a different guy and subsequently everything is different. We feed from what he does. We are listening to him, he does pretty good stuff in practice and his plays are effective. We play to our strengths. Defensively, which is the biggest thing, we have been really consistent. A lot more than before.”
It’s also certainly helpful for the American superscorer’s own game to not being forced to fight against the bulk of the opposing defense on his own, without a back-up plan. One that is equally beneficial for his and his team’s sake.
“For sure it makes it a lot easier on me. The guys we are facing can’t just load up on me or try to beat me up. Our team is really producing. It’s a really hard to defeat a team when you don’t know who is the leading scorer. We have a lot of guys that can lead us in scoring. It’s a great weapon at hand.”
After Erez Edelstein was fired, there have been many rumors flying around the European basketball stratosphere regarding who will become Maccabi Tel Aviv’s new head coach, since Hadar wasn’t initially considered as a permanent option.
Nevertheless, Andrew Goudelock gives a vote of confidence to the man currently in charge. Would he want Hadar to stay at the helm?
“Yeah! For sure. We’ve been playing really good. The atmosphere around the team has changed since he came. I think he’s really good for us. He’s what we need. We are constantly improving and we are winning game after game. Whether it’s EuroLeague or Israeli league. He’s the right guy for us.”