Mac TA hoping to lift spirits against Haifa
01/27/2013 02:37
Maccabi Tel Aviv to face Maccabi Haifa less than 72 hours after suffering a heart-wrenching 78- 77 defeat to Olympiacos.
Yogev Ohayon. Photo: Adi Avishai
A dejected Maccabi Tel Aviv will look to emerge from the gloom when it hosts
Maccabi Haifa in BSL action at Nokia Arena on Sunday night.
Tel Aviv
faces Haifa less than 72 hours after suffering a heart-wrenching 78- 77 defeat
to Olympiacos to drop to 1-4 in Euroleague Top 16 Group F.
With nine
games to play in the Top 16, Maccabi has theoretically still got plenty of time
to make up lost ground. However, considering its mediocre displays over recent
weeks and with already two home defeats to its name, it is hard to see how the
yellow-and-blue can recover from its disastrous start.
Nevertheless,
coach David Blatt promised his team would fight until the very end, starting
with Thursday’s contest at Besiktas JK in Turkey.
“This isn’t over yet,”
said Blatt. “It is tough to lose two games at home, but we refuse to give up. We
are in a bad situation and in a big hole, but we aren’t out of it just yet. We
aren’t playing well enough at the moment, but I believe we will still have a say
in this group.”
Tel Aviv will be expecting to leave for Istanbul on the
back of a 12th straight BSL win.
Haifa improved to 9-5 last week with a
96-87 victory over Hapoel Eilat and gave Tel Aviv a fight for three periods
before losing 87-67 when the teams met in November.
Eilat will look to
rebound from its recent dip in form on Sunday when it hosts Hapoel
Gilboa/Galil.
Eilat opened the season with just two defeats from its
first nine games, but has lost three of its past five contests to fall to
9-5.
Also Sunday, Bnei Herzliya hosts Hapoel Holon and Ironi Ashkelon
visits Barak Netanya.
On Monday, Hapoel Jerusalem goes for its third
straight win when it visits Maccabi Ashdod while Hapoel Tel Aviv welcomes
Maccabi Rishon Lezion.