Ehrle Weisberg

Behind the Scenes

MESS Zalgiris: Maccabi Tel Aviv's confusing victory

Lorenzo Brown has already become the obvious star, but real chemistry with Wade Baldwin has yet to be seen.

The front line was lost against a gray opponent, and the exchange management raised questions.

The people who seemed the most lost at the beginning of the evening became the surprising bright spots

Ehrle Weisberg

07/10/2022

Friday, 07 October 2022, 09:00

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

Victor Wambanyama's moves in his second game against G League Ignite (from Twitter)

1. The only ones who won at home.

So what's wrong, really?

Hapoel Holon opened the season of the European factories this week with a three-point victory at the end of extra time;

It was followed by Hapoel Jerusalem and won by a margin of two, when the opponent missed just before the buzzer;

And yesterday (Thursday) Maccabi Tel Aviv completed the trio with a victory by a point, while their opponent scored a little late.

Three Israeli representatives, three tepid and worrisome displays, three narrow victories.

And in general, the Yellows are the only ones in the Euroleague who played at home last night and managed to avoid a loss.

So what's wrong, really?

Quite a bit, to be honest.

If only due to the fact that the multitude of people who left the temple in Yad Eliyahu looked several years older than the multitude who entered it, just a few hours earlier.

So many red lights came on during the opening events in Tel Aviv.

Let's start from the end, that is - from the last two and dramatic minutes:

* Jarl Martin - yes, Jarl Martin - takes Edgars Olnovas for penetration, and steals a roof from him.

* Bonzie Colson leads the attack by dribbling to beyond half court.

* Alex Poithers gets the ball on the baseline, away from the basket, gets tangled up and almost loses.

* He takes out a pass at the end of the 24th, and Lorenzo Braun's suicide triple lands in the open.

Petam topped his teammates with 11 assists: five to Colson, zero to Baldwin.

Lorenzo Brown (Photo: Danny Maron)

All of this, as mentioned, happened only in the two final and decisive minutes, when the scoreboard fluctuated between a point advantage for Zalgiris Kovna and a point advantage for the locals.

In between, during a normal one, Brown managed to feed Poithers in a pick and roll, and the center scored two free throws that determined the game's result, 83:84, a minute and 11 seconds from the end.

And when that's the case, it's no wonder that even 30 years after he burst into our lives, Oded Ketch is required to face the fateful issue: did he smile or not at the end.

"I almost managed to smile", he admitted, "but they didn't even give me that. Why did he (Arenas Botkevicius) have to score the last shot?".

good to know (in advance)

The secret to improving your sex life - now in a special sale

Served on behalf of "Gabra"

2. Brown and Baldwin under surveillance

Practice matches and unofficial preparatory tournaments aside, Ketch was on the line yesterday after a 16-month hiatus.

And he too, it turns out, needs to remove rust.

First and foremost, the management of the rotation and the distribution of minutes between his guards cried out;

In light of the fact that Austin Hollins is a little injured and not really in the business, the blanket got even shorter and required different treatment.

Darren Hilliard came off the bench, made two threes and managed to produce some kind of production.

So it's true (1), he was involved in two fouls in the second quarter, but after them he was forgotten and left on the bench.

In fact, he only returned to the court when there was no choice left, with Wade Baldwin's fifth foul with two minutes left.

So true (2), Hilliard didn't really keep.

But between us, who did keep?

One of the signs that Maccabi Tel Aviv is still far from finding itself is the large and excessive burden of responsibility placed on the shoulders of John DiBartholomew.

without harm, God forbid;

In a team that wants life in the Euroleague, come 2023, he should probably be less involved.

And when talking about the back line built by Eliyahu, it is impossible not to dwell on the pair Brown and Baldwin.

Well, a duo they still aren't.

As long as the yellow team's roster remains the same and no changes are made to it, there is one basic goal: that at any given moment, at least one of them will be on the floor.

After all, Brown is the No. 1 quarterback in the hierarchy — and his only replacement quarterback is Baldwin.

The time when Maccabi played yesterday without either of them amounted to 3.2 seconds of defensive possession.

This.

But the coach can't be satisfied with just one member of the B&B duo.

Simply, because he needs both.

After 16 months outside the lines, it turns out that he also needs to remove rust.

Oded Ketch (Photo: Danny Maron)

* For 19 and a half minutes the two played together, during which the team reached 47 points (2.4 per minute) and won by six points.

When each of them was alone, she scored less - and lost;

30:29 to her advantage in 15 and a half minutes of Brown (1.8 points per minute), and 12:8 to her advantage in five and a half minutes with Baldwin (1.4 points).

* Baldwin scored all 15 of his points while Brown was by his side on the court.

And despite the fact that the point guard finished the evening with 11 assists (five of them to Bonzie Colson), none of them reached his partner in the back line.

* The two guards combined for 28 points and were 8-for-13 for two - but neither of them visited the free-throw line even once in 58 cumulative minutes.

* Strange as it may sound, Brown didn't make enough decisions in Money Time.

It may be the fatigue that affected him (according to the management of the rotation), but precisely in the last few minutes too many other players performed too many actions that should be reserved for the coordinator (according to the detail of the last two minutes at the top of the column).

And if he gave only one assist in the fourth quarter, then there is also numerical backing for the claim.

And at first he didn't even understand who was calling him.

Bonzie Coulson (Photo: Danny Maron)

3. The Lithuanian celebration in color is just the promo

Next week, Maccabi Tel Aviv will go to Istanbul, and will be happy to find out that Ian Wesley is no longer waiting for her in the paint area of ​​the Ulker Sports Arena.

However, Fenerbahçe will present a front line that is not short and not of high quality in the form of Jonathan Motley, Tonya Jakiri, Devin Booker and Nigel Hayes-Davies.

Four days later, Monaco will land in Eliyahu's hand and place in the yellow color zone a battery that starts with Donta Hall and Jaron Blossomgeim, continues with Adrian Muerma and ends with Donatas Motiunas and John Brown.

And what is the meaning of this dropping?

The following opponents will invite the interior players in yellow much bigger and more significant challenges than the ones they encountered yesterday (and the lovable Cavarius Hayes will forgive us), and the problem of rebounding - especially in defense - may turn out to be even more critical.

Beyond the fact that Zalgiris won yesterday 26:43 in a so-cold battle for the rebounds, and beyond the monstrous statistic that she put up with 17 offensive rebounds (only two less than Maccabi's defensive number), the following statistic will tell the story: in the first half, the Lithuanians got 15 points from a chance second in attack - and reached 48 in total;

In the second half, the number shrunk to only six, and they stopped in total at 35. Quite a

few questions were asked and will be asked about the status of Maccabi's seniors, and at least in the initial stage, Ketch decided to prioritize the two centers - Poithers and Josh Niebo - in a joint team.

But what's the point of using the highest lineup you have, if only in the middle of the third quarter did the two celebrate their first rebound of the entire evening?

Put yourself in the game through actions of garbage collection, and earn the minutes.

Jarel Martin (Photo: Danny Maron)

4. Bonzie Coulson, come here.

where?

And yet and in spite of everything, Maccabi Tel Aviv came out with the victory in their hands, and that too should be remembered and internalized.

When this team runs and develops momentum, it can open huge gaps in minimal time.

And in the moments when her talent bursts forth, her opponents will be miserable.

The most positive points were given by the two who seemed the most lost at the beginning of the evening.

When Martin first joined, and the offense tried to run a block-based drill, he needed online explanations from Colson to understand where he should stand and where he should move.

Martin, lacking confidence in shooting, managed to get himself into the game from garbage collection operations;

If he continues to take control of loose balls, take control of stray rebounds and, above all, provide more defensive cover than anyone else, Martin will sooner or later also reach the days when his shots will reach the address.

We saved Coulson for last.

During the warm-up, when the crowd sang to each player "(generic name) come here", the forward received a translation from one of his friends that "someone behind the basket is calling you".

So he went to the other side, got up and looked for the man, and only after a few seconds did he realize that it was an entire stand singing in his honor.

In the game itself he was already much sharper.

Of the 33 statistical actions performed by Coulson in 32 minutes, 28 were positive actions.

He finished with an index of 29 - not only the highest for a player on the team, but also the second highest ever for a Maccabi Tel Aviv player in his Euroleague debut.

Only Liniv Green, 18 years ago, had better data.

And that's really impressive.

• sport

Tags

• Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball