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When the scoreboard at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan showed at half time 30:52 to the Italian team, the people of Maccabi Tel Aviv must have had a lot of scripts in their heads.
A scorching defeat five days after the home loss to Red Star Belgrade, would have increased the pressure and the unfavorable feelings at the yellow club.
"It was a very bad first half," said Maccabi.
"We did not play well on both sides of the pitch, we allowed Milan to score easy baskets almost without interruption, and also in the attack we missed a lot of good shots."
In the locker room, Yannis Sapropoulos scolded the players and demanded that they raise their heads, get up the fighting spirit and fight until the last second.
The Greek coach's words did their thing, and his players cut the high lag to 83:72 at the end.
To be honest, the Italians' downshift probably also had something to do with the end result.
Sapropoulos admitted at the end: "The first half was a disaster."
Wilbkin, Photo: EPA
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The only bright spot for the Yellows from the game was the entry into the affairs of Derrick Williams.
The forward who stuck with Corona over the summer and struggled to get back into shape, appeared big in the second half and finished with 18 points, including 4 of 5 from outside the arc.
“We had a tough first half,” Williams said.
"But we recovered in the second half. The ball moved on offense and defense we fought harder. We have a long way to go, but the last part of the game gives me confidence that we will get better and also start the game better on Thursday."
Another player who showed reasonable ability is James Nanley who scored 16 points and finished with an index of 20. "Obviously we did not want to start the game like that. We did not find our pace in the first half, but in the second half we showed we could play better. We were more aggressive and put pressure "On the opponent, and that's how we managed to come back. We will get better every day that passes."
Sapropolus.
Maccabi looks bad, Photo: EPA
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The Yellows do not have much time to work and get better.
Already today they will travel to France where they will play against Wheelerban (Thursday, 21:05).
Tony Parker's team has been the hot thing in the Euroleague since the start of the season.
Yesterday, she stunned European champion Andulo Zero with 73:75 and so far has a perfect balance of three wins in three games, compared to the negative balance of the Israeli champion (2: 1).
While Keenan Evans is looking his way in the Euroleague, Chris Jones excels for the French with an average of 18 points so far.
Yesterday he scored 16 points on the head of Shane Larkin and Vasilya Mitchic.
"This win shows how much character we have in the team," the American guard said.
On Thursday he will come to close a small personal debt to the coach who preferred to replace him.
Chris Jones.
Will Come With Extra Motivation, Photo: Getty Images
