Most of the work of a basketball coach is hidden from the viewer.
It occurs in tedious training, in which the coach is supposed to impart to his team a method of play, action habits, coordination of pairs and threes on offense and defense, decision-making principles, and boundaries within which they are free to act independently.
In one word: character.
This time, we met a coach whose playing method is clear and orderly to the point of controlling freaks (Pasqual), and a coach who even though we have reached the middle of the season has not yet decided who his team is, what its character is, and what it is good at (Sapropoulos).
Maccabi Tel Aviv can already bring back Yigal Shilon and his show Misses on television.
If she had only decided what her identity was and believed in it, she would today be at least in a reversal of victories / losses, and with completely different Christmas feelings.
And as against Olympiacos, the game was decided already in the first quarter, to which Maccabi came too anxious and respectful of the opponent, too busy with basketball and not with enthusiasm and aggression, and with a low level of arousal and urgency.
And it starts with the top five - to bring up Taylor and Jake Cohen against the best defensive team in Europe, this is a recipe for a quick escape, which did happen.
If at least Maccabi had a wonderful guard, it would have been justified.
But you only scored 10, and snatched 25, and this is where the game ended, and the chase began.
A team with a character trusts itself and plays with its good tools in the opening, and does not adapt itself to the opponent.
After Maccabi trailed and chased, the good top five, the game inside, the pressure on defense and the aggressive offenses were back.
And even a region that paralyzed the Russians' game of dedication.
Why is it impossible to start like this?
This is Maccabi's only way to win.
And that's her character.
Against this roll he managed to return, against Zenit no more.
Injustice and desolation cry out to heaven.
It ended in regular regression to put the ball back in Scotty Wilbkin's hands and hope for the best.
This has happened so much in the last three years, and it has succeeded in the percentage of low-fat cheese.
Especially in a game where Zenit's guard defense shone, and in contrast, Maccabi's seniors celebrated in color, with Reynolds giving his game of the season.
But as usual, we only got a basic pick and roll with Reynolds who was easily treated, then the familiar look of Scotty dripping himself to know, looking for a three (which was not needed in a 2-point difference and Maccabi momentum that was probably enough for a win in overtime), then penetrating left (because that's what defense Wisdom gave him the whole game), and throws a fluttering carp shot before Passover with his right hand that barely reached the ring.
It stood out very much in the face of Zenit's attack a moment earlier, in which she propelled the ball in an orderly exercise with five dedications and scored three wins.
This is exactly the character of a group.
In the face of the lack of character of Maccabi.
Whose identity amounts to Scotty's dribble.
Which was to prove.
Elementary, Yannis.
Yannis Sapropoulos.
What about the character?
Photo: Alan Shiver,
Maybe it would have been better for Maccabi to lose by twenty points in this game.
Xavi Pasqual helped Maccabi and really tried to give it the game, as he makes strange substitutions, as if he trusts his players to keep the difference anyway.
And it almost cost him an embarrassing loss.
But all these small losses create a false feeling that Maccabi is close.
And she is indeed close, but very far.
She does not reach even 50% of her potential because she is unaware of herself and her identity.
And this is exactly the important job of the coach.
Maccabi's problem is not a lack of talent, but a lack of method.
Therefore the change must come in imparting a clear method of play and principles.
Maybe that will be enough for the playoffs, and maybe not, but at least it will be possible to understand who Maccabi Tel Aviv is.
Today, even Maccabi does not know who Maccabi is.
And the question is, is Yannis Sapropoulos capable of building such a method, having not been able to do so for two seasons.
****
Murdoch once went out with a few other guys to sail on the Sea of Galilee.
To be romantic, Murdoch took with him the luxuries of the fishermen.
That's how they sailed on the Sea of Galilee until it started to get boring.
The company tells Murdoch: "Drop the lux to the sea, we'll see if you have character."
Says Murdoch: "What does this have to do with character? If I want I throw it into the sea."
Guys: "Throw him into the sea, we'll see."
Murdoch: "Too bad for the Lux."
Guys: "You have no character,
Murdoch: "I have no character?"
Guys: "You have none."
Murdoch: "It's nothing, if I want I throw it into the sea."
Guys: "What are you talking about a lot? We'll see you."
Murdoch: (looks at the guys with contempt and throws the Lux forcibly into the sea) "Well, what are you saying now?"
The guys replied, "You have no character, anyone can influence you."
(The bag of lies)
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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