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Ahrela Weisberg

Behind the Scenes

In a storm: Empires in crisis are looking for new hope

The questions that should arise at Maccabi Tel Aviv regarding Omri Caspi.

The anemic management that leads Real Madrid to the brink of an abyss.

The bet of Dimitris Itudis that collapsed before his eyes.

The stagnation suffered by Oded Katash on the way to a fateful test.

And will Mike James' scandals end in an exciting comeback?

Tags

• Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball

• Omri Caspi

• Oded Katash

• Mike James

Ahrela Weisberg

Thursday, April 01, 2021, 2:30 p.m.

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Will do the act of Diamantidis and Spanoulis?

Omri Caspi (Photo: Official website, courtesy of Maccabi Tel Aviv)

1. Looks, smells and feels different

Apparently, only ostensibly, Maccabi Tel Aviv did not really have too many reasons to celebrate after the impressive victory over Barcelona.

After all, even in its busiest seasons, it managed to connect for one evening and beat one of the top teams in the Euroleague (aka Sylvan Landsberg vs. Fenerbahce in Istanbul, 2017); There's probably something about the loose and pressurized basketball of retreating empires that refuses to give up their dignity.

Despite everything, the victory over Barça looks, smells and feels different from its predecessors, even if it has no real meaning in determining seasonal destiny. Especially in negative contexts of a drop in polls, a drop in the ballot box and disappointment with results, but he is exactly what Maccabi's teams need in their situation. Improving averages of Garbage Time players should always be taken with a limited guarantee - and obviously the expected revolution this summer Some issues that seemed obvious, and now require re-examination

, for example, can Maccabi Tel Aviv afford to disqualify Omri Caspi in advance, in light of the gradual and controlled recovery it is presenting? A team with an unlimited budget does not have the luxury of paying close to a million dollars

Reward replaces - but if both sides understand the situation and are flexible (as stars like Vasilis Spanoulis and Dimitris Diamantidis have cut their salaries in the last seasons of their careers), maybe the picture will change?

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Already know who will be the first to sign for next season: the fans.

Yannis Sapropoulos (Photo: Danny Maron)

And for example, how will the group behave regarding Ante Žižić?

In the last six rounds the Croatian stands at 12.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 68% from the field and an index of 18.8 in just over 22 minutes;

True, these are the most crucial games imaginable, and a great defender will no longer come out of it, and no doubt he will fail this season - but could it be that some of his fluff is not just about him, but a situation that makes yellow chins flourish each season?

Will it be possible to get much more out of it with the right activation and upgrade in the critical and powerful forward positions at his side, as in his days with David Blatt in Drushpaka?

And finally, what will the club do with the crowd?

The oppressive silence at Yad Eliyahu, which must have cost several home losses, was broken by 3,000 yellows in the stands, who brought the familiar spirit back to the shrine.

Yannis Sapropoulos knows how to buy their cores and talks about them a lot, and anyone who has watched the game against Barcelona (and the win over Anadolu Zero in a similar situation last season) understands how substantial this push is.

And yet, if the importance of the fans is so crucial, why was it decided to treat them as customers, and to quote astronomical and triple-digit ticket prices for the end-of-season Garbage Games?

(Photo: Danny Maron)

2. "In the summer Amigo, in the summer"

- "Pekondo Campasso will leave us in the middle of the season."

- "Let's wait and see what happens."

- "Okay, Campasso has left."

- "Then we'll get along with Sergio Yui."

- "Enough, he's finished since the injuries."

- "So Carlos Allussen is our future."

- "But not the present."

- "And Nico to Provitola".

- [Silence].

- "Need to seal a replacement".

- "In the summer Amigo, in the summer."

"Now Anthony Randolph has also finished the season."

- "All right, we'll bring you Alex Tios"!

It is doubtful that these talks, the fruit of the writer's (too) feverish imagination, have taken place at Real Madrid's board meetings in recent months, but the decisions - or rather the lack of decisions - have brought the Blancos to the brink of a historic season, not in a positive sense.

The factory-decorated team reaches the last line, 80 minutes before the end of the regular season, when it is in real danger of relegation;

For the first time since the launch of the new format, and in fact for the first time since 2012, she may find herself out of the quarter-finals.

If he had been called Oberdovich, he would have been given hidden intentions.

Pablo Lasso (Photo: GettyImages)

Unfortunately, Real encountered a typhoon called Anadolu Zero this week.

The glittering team from Istanbul, which faltered with a negative balance in the first half of the season, stands at 2:12 in the second round;

In eight games she won by a margin of more than 20 points, and she clung to her Spanish rival several (or almost record) negative records in Madrid.

* 108 points per game - Real's almost weak defensive display in the Euroleague (second only to 109 of the same zero in 2002).

* 67 points in the half - the most absorbed by the whites in the factory.

* Defeat by 25 points - second in a home game in Madrid, and fourth in a Blancos Euroleague game.

For the first time in a decade, Pablo Lasso's players will go up without him for tomorrow's critical game against Olympiacos.

The coach raged and was sent off late in the third quarter against Anadolu, with his team trailing by a single-digit margin;

Five minutes later she was already in the minus 25.

If he had been called Jeliko Oberdovic, there would have been fans of conspiracy theories who would have attributed to Lasso a deliberate dismissal, so as not to finish in sixth place and run into zero again in a hopeless series.

On such strange days, if you are already advancing to the playoffs at the last minute, it is better to slip down to seventh place and probably get CSKA Moscow, with a real chance of advancing, nevertheless and in spite of everything, to the Final Four.

3. Itudis fights for principles at all costs

CSKA has changed its concept this season: no longer the deep and endless team that finds a solution to every injury or problem, but one that recalculates a route in light of the budget constraints in Corona, and builds itself differently. Dimitris Etudis took a huge gamble, putting his trust in a lone superstar in every position. Along with Mike James in the back line, Toko Shangalya and Nikola Milutinov were brought in in both face positions, without any of them having adequate backing.As

long as they were all intact and healthy, despite the ongoing problems with James off the field, the Russians ran the Euroleague and flew for 12 consecutive wins But the card tower collapsed as soon as Milotinov injured his shoulder in the home loss to Bayern Munich, and probably ended the whole season. Not only his own, but perhaps the team's.

Itudis, after a third three-month clash with James, decided to cut him this week. but the direction is clear. the club's management, after claiming that the star wayward suffering from any ailments in the stomach, was emphatic Bhodaotih the coach is the one issued by the actor faculty - and now leave the group on a new path and vague without guard sole creator of her.

coach Greek fully understand the significance of giving up James, but decided to go all the way with my principles

and.

He knows that he may pay for it with the loss of hopes of winning the trophy, and that CSKA may be left out of the big four for the first time since 2011, but the statement of principle is more important to him.

Pau fans are already fantasizing about a comeback.

And Katsch?

Mike James in Green (Photo: GettyImages)

4. The Greek media is considerate of Katsch

And now the interesting question is how will the events of the season affect James.

After being thrown out by Etura Messina from Olympia Milan, and his contract for the next two years in Moscow stuck to the Russians like a bone in his throat, his career got stuck at a crossroads.

Despite the high guard turnover expected this summer (in Moscow, Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Istanbul), it is doubtful whether any of the top clubs would dare to get their hands on the American Travelmaker.

This image, so convinced in Greece, can enter Panathinaikos - the only group from which the talented and emotional coordinator emerged without precipitation, conflicts and difficult feelings.

Those who worked closely with him attribute this fact to the environment in which he worked: first, the Greek mentality that allows for freedom and liberty, particularly in a group ruled by Dimitris Yanakopoulos, allowed James to flourish;

And secondly, the comfortable character of Nick Clathis created a cosmic connection between the two.

Pau, like Maccabi Tel Aviv, is looking for its "new hope" for next season.

The Greens have been in a whirlwind since the away win in the derby over Olympiacos.

The eruption of the team's corona, along with the prolonged shutdown of Nemanja Nadovic (who may return to action tonight after two months), and the lack of a coordinator on the roster (fans mock Slavin Mack for his physical condition, calling him "Slavin McDonald's") have led to several slump appearances. To the Red Star Belgrade, Zero and Basconia.

From "Fast Break", the weekly program on the Maccabi Tel Aviv app

This stalemate has not yet affected Oded Katash and his status.

The media and the audience do not blame him for the anemic displays and the negative sequence, and in the end his future in the team will be decided by two factors: one is the Greek Cup, which was stopped in the quarterfinals and will be decided in about a month;

And the other is the fight for the local championship.

Panathinaikos holds on to first place in the league (balance 2:15, followed by AEK Athens with 4:15), and if an apocalypse does not happen and she wins a double - Katsch is expected to get the real opportunity to build a new team in the summer.

The initial and vague signs indicate that he should stay around.

Yanakopoulos' long struggle to lease the Oaka for 49 years is bearing fruit, and there are beginning to be indications that the club's budget will increase, at least proportionately, next season.

In Greece it is reported that Sandovic is close to concluding an extension of his contract, Mario Hazonia claims he really wants to stay, and if the lowering of James' status leads him back to the green jersey, new and interesting days may be coming to Athens.

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