With faith: the road to the great revolution of Maccabi Tel Aviv
Only a month ago, the change of coach seemed unsuccessful, but then the hope returned with the removal of the Russians from the Euroleague: "Suddenly we saw that things were up to us."
On the players who flourished under Avi Even, those who went backwards and the comparison to the good time at the beginning of the season with Sapropolos
Almond light
13/04/2022
Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 1:30 p.m.
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
Share on general
Comments
Comments
Tikatnu - Today's Summary Clip 13.4 (Sports 1)
On February 24, Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced to the first game after the dismissal of Yannis Sapropoulos.
The Yellows, who were on the verge of losing the pitch in Turkey against Anadolu Efes, were humiliatingly defeated 109: 77.
A week later they met in Basconia, a group that had hitherto been in a very negative trend.
The Israeli champion presented poor basketball and barely won 93:94.
There were many fans in the crowd who called for the management to appoint a coach and not to continue with Avi Even on the lines.
On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine.
A day later, they still dreamed in the Euroleague that they could continue the season and announced that the Russian teams would host outside Russia.
Three days after this decision, the heads of the factory had already suspended CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Onyx Kazan. The Russians will not return for the current season, their games will be disqualified from the countdown.
Tonight (Wednesday, 19:30) Fenerbahce will arrive near Eliyahu.
The Turks did not really recover from that decision, as team coach Sasha Georgeovich said about two weeks ago: "We are in a certain situation since the Russian teams were relegated, and believe me, this is the conversation in the team every day. Every day I have to fight to regain their motivation because "They took something from us. They talk about it every day. It's something we feel."
The Yellows have taken full advantage of the decision and next week will return to the Euroleague playoffs for the first time in seven years.
More on Walla!
The head is already in the playoffs.
Maccabi Tel Aviv closes a regular season against Fenerbahce
To the full article
The Euroleague decision changed the season.
Maccabi Tel Aviv players (Photo: Danny Maron)
Two things led to the dramatic turnaround of Maccabi Tel Aviv, a turnaround that for many at the club is the biggest the team has known during a season.
The first is the appointment of Avi Even, but the second, and more important and probably more significant, was the return of hope following what happened in the Euroleague.
"What's the change? Political things have happened," Scotty Wilbkin said honestly after Maccabi beat Real Madrid three weeks ago, effectively securing its place in the playoffs.
Wilbkin, by the way, refused to talk two weeks ago about the change that Avi Even brought to the team, out of respect for Yannis Sapropoulos whom he greatly appreciates.
"We felt we were a playoff team regardless of the Russian teams. We take it day after day, we work with this method," said Keenan Evans after Maccabi defeated Milan and took a significant step towards the playoffs, when one of the team members said at the time that: "There was a strange atmosphere. "Even in the team when we made a big streak of losses, because the players believed they were more equal and things just didn't connect, and suddenly there was a very big change."
One of the Maccabi players agreed to tell in recent days about this change from his angle: "It is true that these are the conditions created and everyone should play by them, but should understand what it gave the team. One of the most important things in basketball is momentum, and if you see our board, our momentum is not It was good. We lost in Be'er Sheva after we lost in Belgrade and things went in a negative direction. What happened then was that we had a short break from the Euroleague, we put together a few wins in the league and watched the games from the sidelines. "We'll get into the playoffs. We're got faith back, something that was probably lost in the losing streak a few months ago, and it's connected. Sometimes we need that spark."
He actually went backwards.
Scotty Wilbkin (Photo: Reuters)
So what has Avi Even done differently since being appointed Maccabi Tel Aviv's permanent coach?
Numerically he has picked up a few actors, but none of them dramatically.
Keenan Evans scores 2.5 points more, Jaylen Reynolds 2.4 points more, James Nanley one point and a half, Derek Williams one point.
Everyone got better, none of them completely changed his skin.
Yiftach Ziv has entered the rotation, as has Roman Sorkin in recent games.
Those who dropped in numbers are: Scotty Wilbkin who scores 3 points less, Ante Zizic with 3.8 points less and Angelo Cloiaro with 1.9 points less.
The latter also dropped more than 7 minutes of play per evening.
At the team level, the Yellows score just 3.8 points more per evening (83.8 vs. 80), and at less threes than they did in the Sapropolos era (7 vs. 8.3), and yet the game looks a little more fluid, better, happier, but less than it looked in the good season at the start of the season. .
Almost every Maccabi player mentioned in the previous paragraph, scored more points in the run at the start of the season compared to the last run.
The Yellows scored a little more threes, and three of their five wins came against Villarban, Barcelona and Panathinaikos, just like now.
"What caused so much frustration in the middle of the season was this run that we looked like," the same player recalled, "when you know you're capable of looking good, and you can not recover, you lose confidence and get upset. My father gave us back our confidence, the situation gave us back Confidence, we put together a few wins in the league, and the game against Milan lifted us all. ".
May buy his place for next season.
Avi Even (Photo: Danny Maron)
More on Walla!
Avi Even: "Real is better than Milan? Speculation, there is no absolute answer"
Not just Avi Even: Maccabi Tel Aviv The least experienced team in the Euroleague playoffs
Intentional loss?
Maccabi Tel Aviv clarifies: "Everything is given against Fenerbahce"
An innovative method of learning to swim and make a difference in life - now in operation
With all due respect to Fenerbahce, the real test of Maccabi Tel Aviv will come in a week, with the opening of the playoff series, and it will also be a test for Stone, who may within a month become someone who stands on the lines just because the management did not find a coach for a season and a half. Fixed in the 2022/23 season.
"We know there is a very big difference between how Real Madrid and Milan looked here a few weeks ago and how they will look in the playoffs, even when they are in crisis," said one of the club members in preparation for Fenerbahce. "We also need to raise ourselves at the tactical level in this confrontation because the momentum on our side, the belief as well, we will have to do great things in basketball as well and we can end this revolution in the most amazing way possible."
sport
basketball
Euroleague and European basketball
Tags
Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball