Concert: There are rare moments in the work of a commentator in which he emerges from the position of critic, and moves into the pose of the fan.
Suddenly you put down the pen (mouse and keyboard), lean back, and just enjoy the basketball you see.
Last night it happened to me a little after the first timeout of Sapropoulos, which I thought would balance the game.
Olympiacos played basketball like the Beatles corner Nirvana, melodic and poetic combined strongly and aggressively.
Pure pleasure.
Frenetic and efficient ball movement, everyone is removed, everyone gives up a shot for a better shot, and scores a percentage of a computer game that you have a code hidden to.
And it happens for a full ten minutes.
concert.
Applause.
Game Uber.
Dorsey over Scotty.
17 points for X,
Phallic defense: It all starts with iron defense with help and getting back out at top speed.
Like you're playing against ten.
They were so fast that Maccabi committed only 3 offenses in this quarter, because they just did not have time to catch them.
Bartsukas may look like a property tax appraiser, but probably knows how to talk and arrange.
His team arrived ready Perfect.
And how much jealousy, it has leading Europeans, and it has dominant Greeks, and the Americans only reinforcement.
And it has in the middle a huge French pal that makes darkness for anyone approaching the ring.
Already 29 years old, and still continuing to improve.
The coach who taught him the basics of basketball should be inducted into the Hall of Fame tomorrow.
His team is a platform for him to excel and diversify the game, because its whole is much larger than the sum of its parts.
And so he pulls the whole Maccabi defense and then also removes five assists!
He is starting to make an impact on the game like Tavares at Real Madrid.
Who is waiting for Maccabi for another two weeks.
Three-quarters of Garbage Time, Photo: AP
Scoobido: It was a big test for Scotty Wilbkin after Monaco.
Will it continue the trend?
And the trend is not the 37 points, nor even the 8 assists.
But will continue to play as part of the team and not Soliko.
But it was a step forward, two backwards.
Three threes in the "mono, mono" style finished Maccabi the chance for a team game, and the rest were solo efforts to cut the difference.
Not that it would have changed the result, but it is important for Maccabi to play as a team in losses as well.
Scotty must have been exhausted from the 77 (!) Minutes he played this week against Eilat and Manaco.
But if against Monaco Mike James turned him on and put him in adrenaline, seeing Dorsey star in the Peace Hall and the fraternity only bothered him.
From the moment the first threes didn’t come in, it went south, and fast.
No peace and no brotherhood.
Pot de Bull in the basket: Take it easy, after the first lot it was clear that it would be more or less the difference at the end and the rest is Garbage Time.
And that by tomorrow morning the difference will not be reduced to a single digit.
But at the end of the day, in an away game against the most homegrown team in the factory that has a monster in the middle of the point, you will live and die on your threes.
So it was okay for Scotty and Nanley and Evans to throw threes.
Maccabi Tel Aviv got into a concert by Olympiacos, Photo: Reuters
But they scored together just 4 of 21.
And Maccabi did throw a record of 35 attempts out of three, but scored only 10. And with less than 40% in a game like this, you have no chance of getting close.
The game and the difference may have meaning in battle over the eighth and even over the home team.
But right now, you can put the game in the trap and move on, with some learning and mostly rest.
Anthem for Mediocrity and Mustache: Yannis had a lot of personal angles in the game: back to the hall you were his boss for four years.
Play against a guard you have released and feel that because of you he has not progressed.
Exactly three years since he started coaching Maccabi.
But he also had a lot of elements of coach decisions.
It is clear to him that after a busy and difficult week physically and mentally there will be a fall.
And weeks of two Euroleague games 48 hours apart are doomed to disaster.
But especially under the above personal angles, it is very difficult to make significant changes.
Wilbkin tries to make a defense, last night, Photo: AP
It is better to go for sure.
Veteran coaches who have been in all the movies are watching such a fall and are bringing up a different and fresh quintet, to replace the atmosphere of the tired and seventy stars with hungry and excited youngsters.
That they will be motivated, and especially that they will make fouls (as mentioned, only 3 in the first quarter for Maccabi).
And we saw in the fourth quarter how John Dee and Jake Cohen reduced the difference.
Not sure it would have worked in the first quarter, but just for games like this there is the deep roster.
And a little harmless courage.
The traditional mustache month of the Israelis of Maccabi has never looked thinner.
