By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to Israel on Friday morning after losing its first Euroleague game of the season on Thursday night against Partizan Belgrade in Serbia.
The result was a blow to Maccabi ahead of its BSL season opener against rival Hapoel Jerusalem at Nokia Arena on Sunday night
Tel Aviv's 103-91 defeat didn't even do justice to Partizan, which led at one stage by as many as 20 points, and sealed its win as early as the start of the third quarter.
"We played bad, especially on defense. Partizan destroyed us in all elements of the basketball game," Maccabi coach Neven Spahija said after the game. "I am sure we will be better but we need time because this team made a lot of changes in the summer. The way we are looking now is far away from the team we'll be."
In Belgrade, Maccabi was led by Simas Jasaitis who scored 27 points, with Jamie Arnold and Nikola Vujcic adding 18 and 11 respectively. Former NBA player Predrag Drobnjak led Partizan with 23 points.
Vonteego Cummings scored 19 points and Luka Bogdanovic got 17, shooting 4-of-4 from beyond the arc for Partizan.
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