About 20 minutes after Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 80-74 loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv in Game 3 of the Israeli playoff final on Sunday, the team was already trying to reset ahead of Tuesday’s Game 4 at 8:50 p.m. Maccabi still leads the best-of-series 2-1, but the club knows it missed its first chance to clinch the championship and wants to close out the series before a decisive game.
Coach Oded Katash said the emotional reaction after the defeat was understandable. “We are athletes, and it is okay sometimes for the head to be down. We wanted it very much. After a loss, it is okay and natural for the head to be down. It is our duty to respond,” he said. The team plans to speak with the players at Monday’s practice and work on getting them refreshed for the next game.
Maccabi expected a difficult contest, and the game followed that script. After struggling from outside in the first half and early in the third quarter, the team hit several three-pointers and went ahead by four points in the final period, but Hapoel answered and Maccabi never regained the lead. Oshay Brissett said Maccabi had a “small mental drop,” adding, “We have come back from double-digit deficits all season, we are not really tired, we should have closed it, but they are a very good and very well coached team. It was not only their threes in the last quarter that ended the game, we could have done a few more things better.” He also said, “We said after the game that this is not the time to be tired. This is what we are paid for, we have no place being tired, we will need to play much better on Tuesday.”
The club also stood behind Roman Sorkin after he finished the game scoreless, in what was described as an almost historic off night. Maccabi said, “There are days like this in a player’s career. The wisdom is to lift your head and get back to work. Roman is one of our most important players.” The team is also trying to bring Tamir Blatt back into the series, possibly for Tuesday’s game, or if needed for the deciding match. For now, Maccabi does not expect to change its foreign-player lineup.
