Oded Kattash, head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, spoke to the media ahead of the first game of the quarterfinal series against Panathinaikos.
Maccabi Tel Aviv finished the regular season with 20 wins and 14 losses, so they had to go through the play-in to reach the playoffs. However, they convincingly defeated Baskonia in Belgrade by 113:85, led by Lorenzo Brown and Wade Baldwin, and booked a game against the Athens club.
“We know that there will be a great atmosphere. We are familiar with OAKA. There is a lot of excitement for the playoffs. We are happy to be at this stage. There isn’t much that we have to change because of the way Panathinaikos plays. Fairly simple with a lot of individual talent; it’s more important to be aware of what each of their players can do.
And we need to take a step up from last season in terms of aggressiveness. It will not be easy there, but for this we play basketball… We have to come with our best basketball on both sides of the court and try to play our game, of course with the relevant adjustments for this series,” said Oded Kattash.
The first game of the quarterfinal series between Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv will take place in Athens on Tuesday, starting at 7:30 PM.