Hapoel Tel Aviv welcomes Milano for a Euroleague Gameday 29 clash on Thursday night (21:05) at Yad Eliyahu as the Reds will look to break their five game skid and improve on their 16-11 record good for 7th place. In their last Euroleague game, Milano came up short to Dubai after having won three in a row and find themselves in 12th place with a 14-14 record.

Ahead of the game, Hapoel Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis spoke about the challenge at hand, “We are getting ready to play against a very talented opponent. Recently they have won the cup, the Final Eight. They are in good shape, they play solid in all positions, so it’s a big fight. For us, though, it’s a very important game. Despite the opponent being a good team, which makes it even tougher, it’s an important game for us to show again that we have character, a well-established game, great players and good camaraderie and to come in front of our fans to give the best we can.”

Reds guard Chris Jones also shared his thoughts on the Italian squad, “Milano is coming in trying to get a win. They’re playing well, moving the ball well, offensively and defensively. They’re a much better team than when we played them last time. We’ve just got to lock in defensively and get back to ourselves offensively.”

Milano made a change on the sidelines with Giuseppe Poeta taking over for one of the all time greats since the two clubs last met, “Ettore Messina is a great coach. He’s at the club in an executive position and obviously the current coach worked with him as an assistant or associate coach. There are many new things that this team is doing, especially on the defensive end. But as I said, they have a culture and a good winning streak right now, and that’s what matters. They are a great opponent for sure.”

Itoudis looked at some of the key contributors on Milano and spoke about who they will need to pay attention to, “LeDay is a point of emphasis for them, together with other players. Brooks had a great Final Eight, Guduric as well, Shields, Bolomaro is doing an amazing job with Ellis. They put pressure, they have big line-upd, they are good athletes and they contribute a lot. Nebo is back, and compared to the first game, they did not have Nebo and Booker. Now they are back and that makes it even tougher. But as I said, we’re here for the tough things.”

Hapoel added a pair of players the past week in Levi Randolph and Kessler Edwards and Jones is happy to bring in some fresh blood and it may be looked as just what the doctor ordered since the season is heading into the stretch run, “They’re great forwards, both offensively and defensively. With the way we play, our style, getting up and down the court and having bigger guards who can switch helps us a lot.”

Will the newcomers be able to help out, here’s what Itoudis had to say, “We’ll see, I don’t know. For Kessler, we’re a little bit more optimistic because he has worked with the team and this will be his third consecutive practice. Levi just arrived, had to go through the medicals, and he is in game shape. We’ll see, because in addition we also had some problems with Ginat and Madar due to illness, and that makes us skeptical. We’ll see in what condition the players are and decide. It will be a morning decision.”

All in all, the Reds need to get back onto the winning track and Jones is hoping that three straight Israeli league wins will help Hapoel out, “It shows a brighter side during tough stretches. Like I said, it’s good for us to build momentum again and this game will be important for that as well.”