In the first two visits to the Eurocup, Buducnost Volija basketball players recorded two routine and convincing victories against Šljonsk and London Lions. Now, however, a hellish task awaits them - tonight (19:6) Vladimir Jovanović's team plays in the XNUMXth round against Hapoel in Tel Aviv, a team that plays great basketball and has phenomenal fans.
Danny Frank's team has 11 triumphs and four defeats this season, two of them against city rivals Maccabi, and two in the Eurocup against Gran Canaria and Turk Telekom. In his "Drain in Arena" he has a perfect score and a plus point difference of 157 in six games!
When you know what kind of form Budućnost is in, which defeated Cibona on Saturday after a desperate game in the 1st half, and before that sank against Paris in "Morača" and defeated Zadar 104:103 with a magical turnaround, it is clear that hell awaits them.
- Maccabi is an extremely high-quality team, offensively minded. There are two players in each position, with exceptional individual quality. The backs are offensively oriented, that outside line has an unprecedented quality, they play like most Israeli teams - with a lot of running, transitioning, three-point shots, and at the same time there are a lot of different types of defense, which they change very often - warns Jovanovic.
The game revolves around the guards and wings of Xavier Manford, Jordan McCrea, Jaylen Hourd and J'Koven Brown, all of whom are averaging over 10 points in the EuroCup.
- We should establish a defense standard, that is very important to us. Every time we have a certain firmness in defense, we play a lot easier in attack. We should do that for 40 minutes - stressed Jovanović.
Phil Booth, as well as the rest of the back line of the "blues", will be on great trials.
- The triumph over Cibona was good for us, we defended our home field. We are happy to be back on the winning track, I hope we can continue like that. Hapoel is waiting for us, a very good team, with many good players and an exceptional crowd. We will try to do the job away from home, we have to play together, as a team, focus on the tasks and play attack by attack - emphasized the American defender.
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