Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv will take to the Yad Eliyahu court on Tuesday night (20:50) as the reds will play host for game four of the Derby Championship series with the yellow-and-blue holding a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five tilt. Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad defeated Oded Katash’s team in game three 80-74 to stay alive after having fallen in the first two games of the series thanks to a fabulous defensive effort.

However, in order for Hapoel to win this series they will need to win three games in a row which is a tall task to say the least. For Maccabi, they’ll need to get over the tough defeat in front of their home crowd and come back with renewed energy in order to take home the title.

“We’re disappointed,” Katash began. “That’s legitimate and understandable. This is the first opportunity we’ve had in this series and in the playoffs in general, to respond after a loss.”

Kattash added regarding the demanding schedule whole playing without a number of players due to injury, “It’s a challenge, but it is what it is. We’re short-handed and a lot of players are carrying a heavy load, but we’re recovering. We watched the video and there are several things we need to do differently. Offensively, especially, we did the wrong things and disappointed ourselves. In terms of energy and desire, we were there. We managed to come back in a game that wasn’t one of our best, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”

“Of course we wanted to finish it off and we had a great opportunity, but we’re still in a good position in the series and we want to get it done tomorrow. Winning Game 4 on the road isn’t any harder than winning Game 2 on the road and we’ve already done that. We just need to play the right way. From my feeling, we’ll find the strength to come out and fight. We can’t control everything. We’re playing against a team with quality, but we’ll find the solutions.”

As for Tamir Blatt, he added, “Tamir hasn’t practiced on the court yet. It doesn’t look like he’ll return. We’re receiving daily medical evaluations on his condition, but he won’t play tomorrow.”

Jaylen Hoard also spoke about preparations for the next game, “First of all, we watched the video and understood how we can be better. I think we lacked a little energy and we need to fix that and stay together. It won’t be easy, but if we stay united and play the right way, we can do it. It’s the end of the season and we’re athletes, so we take care of our bodies and recover as much as possible, make substitutions when needed, and do whatever is necessary to succeed.”

The forward talked about the possibility of winning his first championship in Israel, “I really want this championship. It means a lot to me. It would be amazing. The goal is to do it in the next game and achieve our ultimate objective.”

Over at Hapoel Tel Aviv, Head Coach Dimitris Itoudis shared his thoughts ahead of the contest, “We come into this game with a sense of danger. We’re still trailing by one game and we’re not the favorites. We’re the underdogs and we have to play that way, there’s no other way. That sense of danger keeps us more focused and alert. To be honest, we’re playing against Maccabi, a team with one of the best defenses. Everything could have ended differently yesterday, but our players need to make the extra effort. Even when mistakes happen, you can make up for them through hard work and effort.”

Guy Palatin also commented on the series to date, “We did the job in the previous game. We knew we had to give our best because they were playing for a championship. Now we’re in the same situation, only this time with our fans behind us and hopefully we’ll get the job done.”

The guard continued, “We’re preparing properly and we’ll come ready to work. Maccabi are aggressive and crash the boards hard. We emphasized that and showed it yesterday. Even though they grabbed 17 offensive rebounds—which is a lot—we’ll improve in that area as well. When your back is against the wall and you know you have nothing to lose, you give your absolute best. We came out and did the job, but we still need two more wins, starting with tomorrow’s game. We’ll take it one game at a time. Our job is to be basketball players and fight for this team.”

Veteran forward Tomer Ginat reflected on the games to date as well as to what is to come, “Sunday’s win was very important for us to keep the series alive. A very difficult challenge awaits us tomorrow, but we’ve made adjustments, watched some video and we’ll prepare properly and come ready to tie the series.”

One of the players that Hapoel was able to nullify was Roman Sorkin who didn’t score a single point, “We know Roman Sorkin and we know his abilities as well as what kind of player he is. Everyone has days like that. We know he’s one of Maccabi’s most important players, and naturally we’re trying to make things difficult for him. We’ll try to do the best job possible again tomorrow, but we can’t expect him to score zero points again. We’ll need to defend everyone the way we defended him.”

Ginat had recently returned from injury but is still not 100%, “My health situation is a bit complicated. I’m trying to manage it and recover as much as possible between games, even though there’s not much time. We’re playing every other day and I’m trying to get myself ready in the best and healthiest condition possible and help the team however I can. In Game 2 I didn’t score at all; Game 3 was a little better. On Tuesday, I’ll come to help the team, whether that’s scoring, grabbing rebounds, or whatever the team needs as long as we get the win.”

“As for the national team, right now I’m in the Finals, so let’s finish that first. I’m trying to stay as healthy as possible and play comfortably with my knee. Once the season ends, we’ll talk about it, but of course I very, very much want to be there.”