Maccabi Tel Aviv Falls 84-74 to ASVEL in EuroLeague Opener

Maccabi Tel Aviv opened its EuroLeague season with an 84-74 defeat against LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, and head coach Oded Kattash made no secret of his disappointment after the final buzzer. The Yellow and Blue committed 20 turnovers, fell into a double-digit deficit already in the first half, and despite a strong comeback attempt in the third quarter, failed to complete the turnaround.

"A bad result for us, we didn't expect to play this way," Kattash said. "We didn't play the right way. It's still early in the season. We talked before the game and knew it would be a physical match, and we failed to match their physicality in the first half. It affected us, we turned the ball over 20 times, and they scored a lot of easy points off them."

Kattash continued: "We are still early in the season, there are no easy games in the EuroLeague, we will have to learn from this. It wasn't a good shooting day for us, but we also took bad shots. We are looking forward from here."

Kattash also addressed the offensive struggles and the integration process of the new roster. "A bad game for us. We knew we were going to play against aggressiveness and athleticism. We weren't spaced well enough and weren't in the right offensive spots. We were confused offensively. We made adjustments, but we weren't calm offensively, a ton of turnovers that led to easy points for them. It disrupted our defensive scheme."

"There are several players learning the system – it will take time with them," the coach added. "I liked the way we reacted in the third quarter, but it's very disappointing, it wasn't enough. Next week we have three games, we will have to learn from this, keep our heads up and be ready for the next challenge."