NEW YORK — Prior to an exhibition tournament towards the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, Maccabi Ra’anana schoolteacher Yehu Orland stated that he was once “sitting here, trying not to cry, because my heart is broken.” Orland was once dressed in a polo blouse with “R.I.P. ELI FOREVER IN MY HEART” inscribed underneath Ra’anana’s emblem.

“I lost one of my best friends two days ago in the war,” Orland stated. “For me, it’s a personal tragedy. But for our country, it’s everybody’s tragedy.”

Orland stated that his pal, Eli Ginsberg, had served within the Israeli army for 23 years, however retired a while in the past. “Even though he finished serving the army, as soon as the war start, he packed his stuff,” Orland stated. Orland added that he’s “sad and my world is down,” however needs to hold “my head up to create hope for those children, for those teenagers, for those young people that they need hope” in Israel. 

The staff arrived in Brooklyn on Wednesday, proprietor Jeff Rosen stated, and it intends to finish its three-game commute, with preseason video games scheduled towards the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves upcoming presen. 

“I think the shock of the war impacted [us] in unpredictable ways,” Rosen stated. “I think everyone had personal challenges almost immediately, and yet we caucused as a group, as management and with the players. And I think we reached the conclusion pretty quickly that we felt it was in [our] best interest to continue the trip. And most of our players thought about it and some thought about leaving. As it turned out, just one player went back.”

Rosen stated that the staff is “proud to be here with our friends and allies and participating in friendship and peaceful activities like sports, under the sad backdrop of such a ferocious and horrible war.”

At follow on Wednesday, Nets heart Nic Claxton stated, “We feel for the players that we’re playing against. I don’t know if we should be playing the game. Personally, I don’t think we should be playing the game. But we feel for them and we’re going to go out there and do our job.” Claxton added, “There’s bigger things in the world going on than basketball.”

Brooklyn schoolteacher Jacque Vaughn stated Thursday that the staff had “talked about just being able to have compassion, to try to educate yourself on what’s going on.” Vaughn added that “we talked about how grateful we are that we do get an opportunity to play tonight.”