In a meeting of direct rivals on the edge of the playoffs places, Maccabi (7-6) hosts Efes (7-6) in Belgrade to break their part of a five-way tie for sixth place.
Erdem Can, Efes: 'We need to be aggressive and concentrated'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 14 of 34
Regular Season
Maccabi Playtika Tel AvivMTA
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Anadolu Efes IstanbulEFS
Overview
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Both teams have performed better offensively than defensively, with Efes ranked 15th for allowing 86.4 points per game and Maccabi 17th at 87.6. That could give plenty of scoring opportunities to a bunch of prolific shooters, with Shane Larkin as the current third-highest scorer in the league (17.7 ppg.) and Lorenzo Brown ranked second in assists (6.8 apg.). Efes has overcome injury problems to win three of its last four games with help from new signing Mike Daum, who drained 5 triples in a comeback victory at ALBA last time out.
Oded Kattash, Maccabi head coach
"An important and challenging game. We are facing a good team that despite its injuries and absences are strangely winning more with every new injury. They have a couple of dominant guards in optimal shape. We would like to improve our defense."
Erdem Can, Efes head coach
"Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv is a very athletic team. They have two very important guards who can take responsibility on the offensive side of the game and change the game. Another game awaits us in which we need to be aggressive and concentrated."
Daniel Oturu, Efes player
"We are looking forward to competing against a really good team and keep building on the good progress that we have made from the past double week. We gotta come prepared and be ready for a fight and compete. It’s a big game and we are excited to be able to play."
Jake Cohen, Maccabi player
"Efes is playing really well. Despite being shorthanded, they won both of their games in EuroLeague last week and had a big win over the weekend, so they are playing really good basketball. We'll have to play our best to hopefully get a win. I think we can do it, but we have to put our best foot forward from the beginning. EuroLeague is so close, I feel that everyone is in playoff contention right now, but I'm not thinking about the big picture. I just want to get one win at a time."