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He, too, wants his own legacy: Scotty Wilbkin's test moment - Walla! sport

2022-04-20T10:08:27.334Z


Five years after losing to Real in the playoffs, the Maccabi Tel Aviv star returns to the standings and hopes to reach the Final Four first. And also: In what way will Avi Even try to resemble Sapropolus?


Ahrela Weisberg

Behind the Scenes

He, too, wants a legacy of his own: the test moment of Scotty Wilbkin

Five years after losing to Real in the playoffs, the Maccabi Tel Aviv star returns to the standings and hopes to reach the Final Four first.

And also: In what way will Avi Even try to resemble Yannis Sapropoulos?

On what precedent does Pablo Lasso build?

And why are the Yellows shying away from Madrid and Belgrade?

Number Theory

Ahrela Weisberg

20/04/2022

Wednesday, 20 April 2022, 11:45

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Comments of Maccabi Tel Aviv after the 74:75 victory over Real Madrid (Maccabi Tel Aviv, official Instagram page)

Mike James dragged Basconia to the Final Four in his first full season in the Euroleague.

Shane Larkin took Anadolu Zero to the final and the end of one global epidemic brought her a historic trophy.

Malcolm Delaney turned Locomotive Cuban into Cinderella and marched her to the semifinals.

And now Scotty Wilbkin is looking at the prominent guards around him, who just like him came from the United States, and he too wants this achievement that will not leave question marks next to his name.



The Maccabi Tel Aviv star remembers well his only appearance in the playoffs. Blatt in Drushpaka, he sniped 17 points and aided by 17 of another young friend, Ante Žižić by name. In game number 2. Luka Doncic was stopped for zero points, but the Blancos recovered with a double victory in Istanbul and qualified for the Final Four.

More on Walla!

Derek Williams: "We want to prove we belong here, and we did not get lucky"

To the full article

James, Larkin and Delaney already have, now he wants too.

Scotty Wilbkin (Photo: Reuters)

Since then, Wilbkin has become one of the most brilliant guards in Europe.

He won the EuroCup, received Turkish citizenship and became a national team player, and is now a favorite of the stands at Yad Eliyahu;

One who celebrates Seder night, and wraps himself in the Israeli flag in days of security crises.



Just as Winko Yelovacs coined at the time the proverb that "No Possibly Win Widow de Katsch," so Yannis Sapropoulos will also be remembered for the saying that "we will live or die on Wilbkin."

But something has changed this season (for the better) in the performance of the American star.

The better Maccabi Tel Aviv played, the less its dependence on it - and the less its dependence on it, the better it played.



Since the coach's dismissal, his favorite star has been careful to maintain his dignity.

He retweeted a quote in which Ronas Jasikevicius came out in defense of the Greek, refusing to talk about the changes and improvements that Avi Even swarmed - so as not to come out as criticizing his predecessor - but for a moment did not lose his place in the food chain.

He still attracts the rival's best guards, and does not seem to be bothered at all when Keenan Evans and especially James Nanley enjoy it and overtake him in the table of scenes.

And yet, he remains the top scorer on the team, averaging his points (15.3) higher than he had last season.



For the playoffs, until tonight at 10 p.m., Wilbkin was unable to return;

Maybe this time, again against Real, and when opposite an older and unbalanced back line, it will finally happen to him - and he too will get to write his own legacy.

More on Walla!

€ 4 million question: Nikola Mirotic's last chance to win the Euroleague?

To the full article

The last coach to advance to the Final Four in his debut season.

Yannis Sapropoulos in 2015 (Photo: GettyImages, Aykut Akici)

  • Since the Euroleague moved to league format, there are only two cities where Maccabi Tel Aviv played and failed to win: Madrid and Belgrade.

    These are the two cities that are currently separating her from winning the trophy (thanks to Elkana Brachiahu).

  • A statistic that will surely be of great interest to the reader Avi Even: The last to reach the Final Four in his debut season as coach of the Euroleague was Sapropoulos, with Olympiacos in 2015.

  • Exactly seven years - which is 2,557 days - have passed since the Yellows' last appearance in a playoff game.

    So, on April 20, 2015, they lost 75:74 to Fenerbahce at the end of overtime and a 3-0 sweep in the series.

  • And what about winning a playoff game?

    This has not happened to Maccabi for almost eight years, or more precisely 2,919 days.

    On April 23, 2014, they defeated Olympia Milan 66:86 and completed 1: 3 in the quarterfinals on the way to victory.

  • The last eight playoff series in the Euroleague (in 2019 and 2021) all ended in victories for teams with a home advantage.

  • Since moving to the Best of Five series, in 2009, ten teams have managed to win without the home team.

    Six won away already in the first game, and four stole the house in the second game.

    Only one team (Fenerbahce in 2017, against Panathinaikos) finished the first week with a 0: 2 away advantage.

More on Walla!

Gone are the seven bad years?

The news that Avi Even brought to Maccabi Tel Aviv

To the full article

He already has six Purim finals, and Real stands at 0: 6 in home series.

Pablo Lasso (Photo: GettyImages, Sonia Canada)

  • Of the eight teams that appear in the playoffs, Monaco and Maccabi Tel Aviv are the only ones to change coaches during the season.

  • What’s more, the other six teams hold the same coach who stood on the lines last season as well.

  • In his 11th season as Real coach, Pablo Lasso wants to reach his seventh Final Four.

    He lost twice in the series: 3-0 to Fenerbahce in 2016 and 3-2 to Anadolu Zero last year.

  • The Basque coach has something to rely on: Real is on a 0: 6 balance in the Euroleague series, which it reached with the home advantage (five of them better than five).

    Throughout history, Maccabi Tel Aviv has only 2 out of 10 in non-home series, such as the one that will open tonight.

  • None of the teams that finished in first place in the league system won the Euroleague, but two champions came from fifth place: Fenerbahce in 2017 and Real in 2018, who defeated Panathinaikos 0: 3 and 1: 3 respectively.

  • In general, the series between places 5-4 have unsurprisingly spawned the most dramatic and close-knit series.

    The other two (Olympia Milan - Bayern Munich last season, zero - Barcelona in 2019) were drawn for five games and ended in the host's victory.

  • sport

  • basketball

  • Euroleague and European basketball

Tags

  • Scotty Wilbkin

  • Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball

Source: walla

All sports articles on 2022-04-20

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