Royal Real.
Real Madrid is the royalty of Europe. A club that has preserved the character, splendor, respect for the symbol and history of the club. Respect Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Yui, as they say: Play here as long as you want, this is your place. Pablo Lasso, a past player, has been coaching there for over a decade. A little enviable when looking at Maccabi. It's like Maccabi would leave Mickey and Doron to play in yellow until the age of 36, and would allow Zvika Sharaf to continue coaching them. I do not know if Maccabi would have been better, but I am sure it would have produced more emotion, which came with a sense of belonging and continuity. But today Maccabi is an international team based in Tel Aviv, with American players, a Greek coaching staff and a Croatian professional manager. The connection to the past is mainly with the management and the fans. That's something too. But it's not real.
Shot in the bucket.
Maccabi left Real to feel like the best team in Europe, with a huge missed opportunity. Like Moscow, Maccabi dominated, and in the end they knelt down. She did everything right, allowed Real only 4 threes, only 70 points. After learning from the Elephant Rebellion in the last two games (Mustafa Paul in Athens and Christ Kumadja in Berlin) she neutralized the elephant Nafil Tabares, player of the month in the Euroleague, leaving him on nine points and on and much on the bench. And only at the end did she shoot herself in the knee, in the eye and in the magic staff of the coach, who stopped working 4 minutes to finish, after managing an almost perfect game until then. But he is not guilty, but he is only responsible.
A classic outdoor game.
In the days of Mickey and Doron, outdoor play had its own rules. The management still has a burning memory of the 125: 78 memory that Maccabi snatched in the pavilion in 1975, without a 3-point line, with Fred Davili deciding to run against Real. A lot has changed since then in basketball and Maccabi, but yesterday it came to an away game as it is written in the book. Slow, gray, with a high five and the pace of a Greek league or of Limoges in its grandeur. Yannis managed the quintet in art, and stood out mainly with the quintet with Sorkin, Kaliro and Zizic, which caused Lasso to raise the vehicles without shots, to heighten the height. And without castrated Real threes. And when Rudy came in, Yannis dumped then John Dee. chess. Then Yannis in exchange for Shia puts in the blazer, which is sewn two threes. Maccabi's defensive defense was successful not only through the guard, but through the style of play and control of the pace. In Real the enthusiasm is extinct, there is no audience participation, no passing game, no momentum. A classic of an away game.
The use of the Israeli bench.
Maccabi did not play very smart, but went for sure. Do not do what you do not know. And so a consciousness of winners develops. Maccabi earned John Dee from the team. He rose two notches in the last game. Roman Sorkin plays too little. In his minutes Maccabi looks like a smart team, because he is disciplined, saves, and takes only what he knows. Blazer fights, snatches, guards. He scored in six minutes what Nanley and Taylor scored in 40 minutes together. Yannis must expand the rotation towards his Israelis, and use substitutions instead of timeouts. Then maybe he would have had one left for the last move.
The Last Battle.
So what did we have there in the end?
Maccabi enters the last quarter with an advantage of 9. Real only with 2-15 out of three!
Maybe it was too early because it got Lasso out of the stencil.
He realized he was going to lose, and he realized it too soon.
So Lasso breaks a mold and puts all the killers together: Yavosla, Huartel, Tubarez, Kozer.
The Last Battle.
Opposite them comes a strange composition of Maccabi.
John Dee, Taylor, Zizic frozen from the bench, without Scotty.
Huartel immediately punishes with a 3-pointer and a jumper.
Without him, Lasso will not beat Hapoel Safed.
But from here everything went upside down.
Yannis and the pervert.
Three early and a bit anxious timeouts, after which Maccabi returned to make a mistake on the field. 1. A simple block of tabars for Rudy, Taylor makes an unwanted substitution and is left with Eddie under the basket. Dunk on the head. For that timeout? Yannis explodes. 2. Maccabi goes on the attack and Scotty does the traditional pick and roll and shells. Then two more threes by force. For that timeout? In response, Real scored three seconds in the quarter. Careful planning of 2 for 1, 40 seconds to the end. What else? Maccabi can't even get the ball out. From most planning 2 for 1 it becomes 1 for nan. That is, there are no more timeouts. But Lasso contributes his own mistake and Paul does not make a three-point lead, Williams scoring a three-pointer. Maccabi did not have a timeout, so Scotty is given the right decision. Everything is upside down. And when there is no time and oxygen left, Zizic tries to keep Yavosla in the last ball. Mock Lerch, easy basket. And more than that, there is no time left to respond. Elementary Yannis. How much he wanted this game. And the truth he deserved. But it's not fair to put all the loss on him,When Williams and especially Nanley do not arrive. There is also a responsibility for the players. And now Maccabi will build on a recovery against Kazan and a successful trip to Istanbul. Erdogan is waiting. It will not be pleasant.
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