The Israel National Basketball team held its final practice Sunday at the new Hadar Yosef Arena before flying out to the EuroBasket. This coming Thursday at 15:00 (Israel time), the squad will face Iceland in their opening game, taking place in Katowice, Poland. Head coach Ariel Beit Halachmi spoke with the media ahead of the tournament.

“We’ve completed a really long preparation period and we’ve been through a lot over the past month and a half. Overall, we’re arriving as ready as we could possibly be as we truly want to come into the competition and play good basketball, represent our country in the best possible way and have a great tournament.”

Beit Halachmi took a look at the team’s first game against Iceland, “I think every game is very important and we shouldn’t look too far ahead. We need to focus on the first game. There are no weak teams in our group and every match is very significant. We need to arrive as healthy as possible, make sure the players are in their best shape and come to play the kind of basketball we’ve been working on throughout this past month and a half. If we do that everything will be fine.”

When asked by ‘The Sports Rabbi’ Josh Halickman about how Yam Madar is feeling, Beit Halachmi responded, “From his side, Yam Madar could play 43 minutes every game. We need to be very smart with him. At the end of the day, he had a long time to rest and he’s coming into the tournament in good shape, his knee is fine and we saw that in the preparation game we had. We’re ready to start.”

On the team’s modest and humble image, “I’ve told the players that first and foremost, we need to come and play as well as we can, play together in our style and if that happens, we’ll succeed.”

Deni Avdija will match up against Luka Dončić and Slovenia later on in the group stage as the Israeli will try and stop one of the world’s best players, “There’s still a long way to go and many games before we face Luka, but Deni, like all the other players, is very prepared. The most important thing is that all our players are coming in with full commitment. We’re already looking forward to it.”

This Eurobasket will mark the first time that a number of players will be participating in the Eurobasket which of course if very exciting for them but as Beit Halachmi said, they all earned it, “I think everyone who went through the preparation period with us deserved to be here and the selection was very tough, it wasn’t easy. This is also a good opportunity to thank those who didn’t make the final squad.”

“I think the combination of experienced players and young players is a good one. Obviously, for any player making their first appearance in a major tournament, it’s very exciting. I’m happy for them, but everyone here earned it from the start.”