Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at Sunday night’s Game 3 of the final needing only a win to secure the championship, but it failed to close out the series. The team trailed for most of the game, briefly took its first lead in the fourth quarter, and could not complete the comeback in an 80-74 loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Roman Sorkin did not score at all in the game.
Game 4 will be played on Tuesday, with Hapoel Tel Aviv hosting. Maccabi still leads the series opportunity count, but the defeat forces it to keep fighting for the title rather than celebrating it now.
Coach Oded Kattash said his players came out too fired up. “We wanted it very much. The players came in with a lot of energy, sometimes they even wanted it too much, because we did not play the way we are used to, especially offensively,” he said. “We rushed a bit, and that is not the right way. We knew it would not be easy, of course. It was not our best offensive game, we did not play the right way, and I found myself making substitutions just to let the players breathe.”
Kattash added that fatigue would be a factor as the series went on. “It was clear there would be fatigue as the series progresses and we would need to fight it. We found a way back into the game with a lot of energy, we need to lift our heads. We still have two chances, we need to recover, I do not know where we will get the strength from, but it will only be sweeter. We need to be a little calmer, this is the first time the players looked like the pressure was on us.” Guard Jimmy Clark also blamed the defense and energy level, saying, “We did not manage to show up for 40 minutes, mainly on defense. Vasilije Micić finished with 29 points and 10 assists, we have to do a better job and it starts with me. Hapoel made adjustments, we tried too, but that is basketball, not everything goes your way. We lacked energy today. We will try to forget this game, take what we can from it, but we need to come to the next game with more energy, more effort.”
