In a Wednesday tipoff, Maccabi (18-13) will attempt to continue its push for the top six against a Valencia team (14-17) that's locked in a four-way tie for tenth place.
Alex Mumbru, Valencia: 'They are playing great basketball lately'
Maccabi has won five in a row, mostly recently cruising past Bayern behind 17 points from ex-Valencia forward Jasiel Rivero. The Spanish team is a major underdog after losing five of its last six games. Maccabi has averaged 92 points during its five-game winning streak, so Valencia will need its best defensive game from the likes of backcourt veteran forward Victor Claver and all-action Semi Ojeleye. The Spanish team did exactly that when the teams met in October, winning 75-66 despite nobody scoring more than Damien Inglis's 11 points.
Alex Mumbru, Valencia head coach
"We play against a team that has a high ratio of home wins despite playing most of the season with no fans in the stands, they only have four losses. They are playing great basketball lately, they have 14 straight wins in all competitions. We know it will be a difficult game in which we have to double-down inside the paint. Numbers says they ae the best rebounding team, but you can also see it when they play. We will have to control the boards and in offense try to fins some cracks on their defense, of which they do not have many."
Nate Reuvers, Valencia player
"It will be a difficult game. Earlier this season we beat them, but many things happened since then. We are still in the thick of the fight and we have three games remaining, so we have to be ready to do whatever is necessary to have a chance to win. We will have to put in all our passion and our fighting capability to balance our lack of size."
Oded Kattash, Maccabi head coach:
"We need to be ready for a very aggressive game. They use size and toughness and have good defensive players. It's a matchup between two different styles. It's critical that we control the boards".
Antonius Cleveland, Maccabi player:
"The key is to defend, stick to the scouting report, figure out what guys like to do and take that away. And also just play our game and try to continue to be good defensively and just just come out ready to play. I think every team we have played besides ASVEL has had some kind of playoff hope, so we know it's going to be tough. Every EuroLeague game is tough, and we just got to come out ready to play from the beginning of the game and put ourselves in a good position to get the win."
Bonzie Colson, Maccabi player:
"It is going to be another challenge for us, playing against Valencia, which is a talented group with a lot of guard-heavy play on their end. They got guys who can post up. Theirs centers and their big men like to post up a lot, so it should be another challenge for us. We are excited about it. I think we just have to trust the system and just try to be consistent on both sides of the floor as possible. And it's around that time where teams click and we just got to continue to click and play well, stay humble and hungry and try to win every game."