Maccabi Tel Aviv star Fischer says he did not provoke nightclub attack

"When I came outside of the club a lot was going on. Words were being exchanged between people and I don't know how it escalated to me getting into a fight."

By ALLON SINAI
dor fischer 248.88 (photo credit: Channel 10)
dor fischer 248.88
(photo credit: Channel 10)
Maccabi Tel Aviv center D'or Fischer gave his version of events on Tuesday, a day after he underwent plastic surgery to repair a face nerve after suffering a deep cut in his left cheek when an assailant smashed a bottle against him during a fight outside the city's Mandy's nightclub. Fischer only spoke briefly to the gathering press after being released from Ichilov Hospital. And despite the difficult situation showed he hadn't lost his sense of humor. "My face is a little bit messed up, but they say I actually look better now then I looked before," joked Fischer, who had bandages on both his left cheek and forehead. "When I came outside of the club a lot was going on. Words were being exchanged between people and I don't know how it escalated to me getting into a fight." Fischer claimed there was no confrontation inside the bar and had no idea if and when he would be disciplined by the club. "I walked out and I guess they might have thought I had something to do with whatever they we're dealing with," Fischer explained. "I don't know what's going to happen. I just want to recover and get back to the team. They said I could get back to training in a couple of weeks." Maccabi guard Tre Simmons, who took Fischer to the hospital in the early hours of Monday morning, and power forward Lior Eliyahu, who was at the nightclub earlier, were both questioned by police on Tuesday regarding the incident. Meanwhile, Maccabi strengthened its frontcourt on Tuesday, signing center Aaron McGhee, who was released from Ironi Nahariya on Sunday, until the end of the season with a team option for next season. McGhee, who averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds in 14 BSL games at Nahariya, will only be able to play for Maccabi in the BSL and didn't fly out with the team to Berlin on Tuesday ahead of Thursday's game against Alba. Captain Derrick Sharp was one of the only players who agreed to speak ahead of the team's departure on Tuesday afternoon. "Every year there's something new, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully we will be a better team and more importantly better people, and learn from this and move forward," Sharp said at Ben-Gurion Airport. The incident came just over a year after then-Maccabi player Will Bynum was arrested for his involvement in a fracas outside a Tel Aviv night club. "Everybody's angry. I'm angry, management's angry. There are life lessons everybody has to learn. Some have to learn the hard way and some the easy way," Sharp added. "We'll see if we can rise above this. Hopefully everybody will understand the situation. "We're just going to go out and clear our heads, and play the best we can and get some of our pride back." On Wednesday, Barcelona hosts Real Madrid in Maccabi's group, with a home victory guaranteeing Barca a place in the quarterfinals and ending Tel Aviv's hopes. If Real wins on Wednesday, Maccabi can still advance to the last eight by defeating Alba on Thursday and thrashing Barcelona by more than 20 points next week at the Nokia Arena. Also Tuesday, Maccabi announced the sacking of Danny Gutt, who was appointed to set up a scouting department at the club just eight months ago.