Maccabi Tel Aviv has been going through a tough time of late.

As assistant coach Josep Berrocal said following the yellow-and-blue’s losses to Kiryat Ata and Hapoel Tel Aviv earlier in the week in domestic league play, the team needs to get back to the basics.
John DiBartolomeo, Maccabi’s captain spent some time with The Jerusalem Post this week in Serbia and looked back at the team’s recent slump, head coach Oded Katash being with the team following the passing of Lior Lubin and, of course, playing and living in Belgrade due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
“It’s a challenge in its own way,” began the 32-year-old American-Israeli guard. “Going back and forth between Belgrade and Israel is tough, but we are used to being in Belgrade at this point. We know this gym and we know what the atmosphere will be at the game. We are focused on playing better and getting a win.”
Obviously there have been some serious consequences for the club and its players since October 7, but the captain explained that they are doing the best that they can due to the circumstances.

JALEN ADAMS demonstrated his potential to Israeli basketball fans last season with Hapoel Jerusalem. Now, the 26-year-old guard (3) is playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv. (credit: Dov Halickman)
JALEN ADAMS demonstrated his potential to Israeli basketball fans last season with Hapoel Jerusalem. Now, the 26-year-old guard (3) is playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv. (credit: Dov Halickman)

“There is a lot that has changed since then not just for us but for everybody. We are trying to focus on the things that we can control. We are in Israel more, that a lot of us like, although we have to play our Euroleague games away from home, which is tough on us, but we find a way to manage and push forward.”

Bouncing back

Maccabi has no doubt gone above and beyond in how it has tried its best to handle a situation that no one had ever experienced, and DiBartolomeo knows that at the end of the day it’s still a privilege to play basketball.
“The people have been very good to us. When stuff first happened and there was uncertainty where people felt unsafe, the team reacted by putting the players outside of Israel for the time being, which was the right decision for our group and while we weren’t at home, it allowed us to get some sort of routine with some sort of normalcy then.
Now our schedule will change again and we will have to adapt. That’s our reality and that’s our situation. At the end of the day we are all happy that we can play basketball for a living.”
Lubin, the former coach and player as well as best friends with Katash, passed away this week and despite the very difficult circumstance that the bench boss is in, he is with the club which is something that DiBartolomeo doesn’t take for granted. While the captain did not get a chance to really know Lubin, he does have a sense as to how important he was to the fabric of the game in Israel.
“We love and support Oded and we know what a tough time it has been for him and you can see it. Our heart goes out to him and his family and all those who loved and admired Coach Lubin. I never had the privilege to really get to know him or play for Coach Lubin, but based on how people talked about him and how Oded would talk about him, one would understand how great of a person he was and it just speaks the truth as to who he was. I wish I would have had the privilege of getting to know him better.”
DiBartolomeo had been injured earlier this season and missed a big chunk of games, but now he’s back and in prime shape to help the team.
“I’m happy to be back and trying to impact the game as best as I can. I think I can give more and a lot of us need to look within ourselves and see what we can do better individually to help the team win to get through this rough spot.”DiBartolomeo knows that the team needs to get back to basics to find a way out of the slump and hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later.
“It is a slump and playing for Maccabi is a roller coaster as there are a lot of ups and downs throughout a 10-month season and this is definitely one of our down points. But if we get back to the basics and focus on basketball, we can enjoy playing hard and controlling the things we can control and then let the chips fall as they may.”
Repeating the mantra, Maccabi’s captain was cautiously optimistic.
“Back to basics and playing the correct way. I think we need to do a better job of putting together more good minutes like we’ve seen in recent games as a couple lapses here or there cost us and I think that we need to have a little more resilience. When times get tough, resorting to what we do best is what we need to do.”