Laso: “We'll have to put in a good performance if we want to beat Maccabi”
"It's always difficult to play in Tel Aviv and we have to take the positives from the last game", said Hanga.
Pablo Laso and Adam Hanga spoke ahead of Real Madrid's Euroleague round 32 game against Maccabi in Tel Aviv Thursday, 8:05pm CET. The coach said: "Maccabi are always a very competitive team on their home court, the atmosphere from the stands is great and it's a difficult place to play. We did a lot of things right in the match against Anadolu Efes regarding important areas of the game such as ball movement, assists, rebounding, shooting percentages and we were good in defense, but everything will be different on Thursday and we've got to be ready".
"Maccabi have very capable players on the outside who can score like Wilbekin, Evans and DiBartolomeo as well as some inside players that play almost on the outside in Williams and Caloiaro. Zizic and Reynolds are two very solid forwards too. They're a very dynamic team and will be difficult to defend against, although for them, their outside players need to perform in order to get their inside players in to the game".
"Despite changing their coach and bringing in different defensive and offensive options, they've kept an identity that's seen them unbeaten at home since December. That tells us that we'll have to put in a very good performance if we want to win".
"Maccabi have very capable players on the outside who can score like Wilbekin, Evans and DiBartolomeo as well as some inside players that play almost on the outside in Williams and Caloiaro. Zizic and Reynolds are two very solid forwards too. They're a very dynamic team and will be difficult to defend against, although for them, their outside players need to perform in order to get their inside players in to the game".
"Despite changing their coach and bringing in different defensive and offensive options, they've kept an identity that's seen them unbeaten at home since December. That tells us that we'll have to put in a very good performance if we want to win".
Hanga: "We've got our confidence back"
"We're aware that this Euroleague double-header will be difficult, as we're playing away from home and up against two very strong sides. We'll take the positives from the game against Anadolu Efes, where we were much better and more fluid in attack. We have to convey that tomorrow, we're aware that it's always difficult to play in Tel Aviv, where the Maccabi crowd is great and they're fighting for a place in the playoffs. We got our confidence back on Tuesday, which we'd been missing in the last few games, we got into comfortable shooting positions, defended well and we have to play like that against Maccabi".
"We're aware that this Euroleague double-header will be difficult, as we're playing away from home and up against two very strong sides. We'll take the positives from the game against Anadolu Efes, where we were much better and more fluid in attack. We have to convey that tomorrow, we're aware that it's always difficult to play in Tel Aviv, where the Maccabi crowd is great and they're fighting for a place in the playoffs. We got our confidence back on Tuesday, which we'd been missing in the last few games, we got into comfortable shooting positions, defended well and we have to play like that against Maccabi".