Prior to tonight’s Israel State Cup Semifinals between Maccabi Tel Aviv\/Maccabi Ashdod and Hapoel Jerusalem\/Hapoel Holon let’s see what some of the players had to say!<\/p>\n
Maccabi Tel Aviv Center Alex Tyus<\/strong> You were on the other side with Ashdod coming to the finals game as an underdog and almost came out on top. Can you try to understand what they\u2019re going through coming in attempting to beat Maccabi Tel Aviv?<\/strong> Did you watch film on them because they\u2019re on an 8 game winning streak and they look really good?<\/strong> Are there any worries if you lose here or in the Final that it could affect the way you approach the Euroleague?<\/strong> Jake Cohen Maccabi Tel Aviv<\/strong> Do you think you\u2019re going to have a more important role in the next couple of games?<\/strong> One loss and you\u2019re out.<\/strong> In the Euroleague, you\u2019re always the underdog whereas here you\u2019re always the favorite. How do you handle that difference?<\/strong> Gerald Lee Maccabi Ashdod<\/strong> What are you thinking about, surprising Maccabi Tel Aviv?<\/strong> Do you realize what it means for Maccabi Ashdod to win against here against Maccabi Tel Aviv?<\/strong> What did they tell you about Maccabi Tel Aviv?<\/strong> So what do you guys need to do to win tomorrow?<\/strong> Rebounding is the key you think?<\/strong> Do you think you have a chance to beat Maccabi?<\/strong> Hapoel Jerusalem Guard Jerome Dyson:<\/strong> Holon is a very high octane offensive team, do you think the key is keeping it a low scoring game?<\/strong> You\u2019ve been in great shape the past month and a half or so, is that one of the key factors to bringing the victory?<\/strong> Prior to tonight’s Israel State Cup Semifinals between Maccabi Tel Aviv\/Maccabi Ashdod and Hapoel Jerusalem\/Hapoel Holon let’s see what some of the players had to say! Maccabi Tel Aviv Center Alex Tyus What\u2019s the difference between preparing for a Euroleague game and this type of game where it\u2019s win or go home in State Cup? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":9802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[247,14,9],"tags":[563,1232,53,96,29,149,1233,993,931,4,908],"class_list":["post-9799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2017-18-game-reviews","category-game-reviews","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-alex-tyus","tag-gerald-lee","tag-hapoel-holon","tag-hapoel-jerusalem","tag-israel","tag-jake-cohen","tag-jero","tag-jerome-dyson","tag-maccabi-ashdod","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","tag-state-cup","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhat\u2019s the difference between preparing for a Euroleague game and this type of game where it\u2019s win or go home in State Cup?<\/strong>
\n“I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any difference, we try to prepare the same for every game. We\u2019ve just gotta come out and do what we\u2019ve been working on for the opponent and try to get a win.”<\/p>\n
\n“I think everybody is trying to come out and do the best they can against Maccabi. Guys try to come out and play outside of themselves with a lot of energy. I think we need to try to treat every game the same and come out with more energy than them.”<\/p>\n
\n“We played them earlier in the year at their place and won. So we\u2019re just gonna come out and be ready to play.”<\/p>\n
\n“I don\u2019t think it effects anything. I think we\u2019ll come out and take it one game at a time and never think ahead. We just play the game on our schedule.”<\/p>\n
\nYou\u2019ve been with Ashdod, what is it like from other side?<\/strong>
\n“I think from either side it\u2019s a really exciting game. Any time you\u2019re in the final four of a tournament, it doesn\u2019t get any bigger than that. So I think everyone understands how big a game it is everyone\u2019s going to be playing hard and trying to win.”<\/p>\n
\n“No, I think we\u2019re just treating it the same. That\u2019s been our attitude all season, to treat every game as the most important and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been doing. There hasn\u2019t been anything extra. It\u2019s every game\u2019s important, every game we want to win, every game you feel like you need to win it. That\u2019s the way we\u2019ve been approaching the game and that\u2019s the way I\u2019ve been approaching my work.”<\/p>\n
\n“You\u2019re right, but the way we approach games is like that, even for the regular season. We\u2019re professionals, we know how much every game counts whether it\u2019s in a regular season Israeli game, whether it\u2019s a Euroleague game, or whether it\u2019s a cup knockout game.”<\/p>\n
\n“Well that\u2019s when I think what I just talked about comes into play, having a solid mental approach. If you let those things affect you, you\u2019re going to be prone to having ups and downs. If you treat every game the same, if you have a good level of professionalism and you\u2019re serious about every game, you can keep it balanced, keep it even-keeled.”<\/p>\n
\nImportant game tomorrow.<\/strong>
\n“Yeah it\u2019s a huge game tomorrow and I think all of our guys are excited to play tomorrow and it\u2019s a big opportunity for us.<\/p>\n
\n“Well we\u2019re just going to concentrate on the things that we\u2019ve been doing so far in that last 8 games and we just want to do them as well as we can.<\/p>\n
\n“Yeah, I actually do because they\u2019ve been talking about it a lot and we\u2019re just going to concentrate in the game and try to do our best.”<\/p>\n
\n“Well we know that Maccabi is mostly winning every year everything so it\u2019s going to be a tough battle.”<\/p>\n
\n“We have a few tactics for tomorrow and we\u2019re going to try them out. I\u2019m not going to say too much right now but we\u2019ll see.”<\/p>\n
\n“Rebounds? Or course. They are very good with the offensive rebounds, especially Parakhouski and Tyus.”<\/p>\n
\n“Yes of course. In one game anything can happen and we\u2019ll see what happens tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s Cup Week, are you excited?<\/strong>
\n“Really excited. It\u2019s something that we\u2019ve been preparing for. We came up short last year and we\u2019re really excited, we know what we\u2019ve got to go out and do. What the team has to do most importantly is play our game and do what we do best.”<\/p>\n
\n“It will be a high scoring game if we don\u2019t come out with the defense we\u2019re capable of doing. I think that\u2019s one of the keys for us, we have to bring that aggressive defense that we bring to the court and not give up cheap points and make everything difficult for them.”<\/p>\n
\n“It can but like I\u2019ve said it can be anybody. We have a great group of guys that, it can be anybody tonight, so I\u2019m going to go out and do my best like everyone else is going to do and that\u2019s all we can ask for.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"