The name of Charonas Yesikavichos is engraved in gold on the ark of Maccabi Tel Aviv, and his image is embroidered on the mantle.
He played in the club for only two seasons, 2003-2005, but those were years of glory and record, which brought two consecutive wins in the Euroleague, and were mainly based on a high and rare quality of basketball and playing wisdom, which are still talked about and tried to imitate in Europe, and are a basis for comparisons and studying basketball.
On the other hand, today, being a player for Charas the coach is not fun.
He eats your ear, controls and transmits, orders and complains, and criticizes you all the time.
But this is how he generates absolute commitment, a sense of panic and one hundred percent effort from all the players, all the time.
And in his performance at Menorah Hall, Aras put on a big show against Maccabi Tel Aviv this season.
And this Maccabi is not the most beautiful in town.
Shaaras and Shimon Mizrahi.
The former coach and player was honored, photo: Alan Shiver
At Maccabi we built on the excitement of the home to help, and it helped, but it wasn't enough.
And Oded Ketch also arrived later, active and emotional, and Maccabi arrived warm and ready.
There was finally a change in the top five, there was an aggressive defense, passing through blocks and fewer substitutions, with a lot of concentration, and with a bit of luck Maccabi even led by 3 at halftime.
Aggressiveness was expressed in multiple walks to the line, winning a rebound 5:13 under her basket, and squeezing multiple early fouls to Barcelona's heights.
But even during the first half, quality differences were also felt at the level of basketball, which were not expressed only because of Barcelona's many mistakes.
Because on the other hand, Barça also kept, and pressed the ball hard, making Maccabi immediately.
And so in the second half the gaps became clearer, and the crowd also choked, and the silence in the Hall of the Bad, as if admitting the weakness of his team.
In 2011, the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA championship, and coach Rick Carlisle attributed part of the success to the FLOW offense.
Not planned exercises, but free movement that is based on the intelligence of the players and getting to know each other.
Against this it was difficult for the opponents to prepare.
It also helps when you have a point guard like Jason Kidd and a gifted European forward like Dirk Nowitzki.
So Maccabi also plays a kind of FLOW, but the game wisdom of most of the players is not enough, and they do not know each other well enough.
Lorenzo Braun is supposed to bring the wits, and he does, but he doesn't really have any partners.
And when the initial movement stalls, the improvisations are excessive, the dribbles are numerous, and Maccabi ends an attack with bad shots.
The amount of airballs and strange shots increased dramatically, because players received the ball in areas that were foreign to them, and quite by accident.
Poyters on the top post, Martin from half distance, yielded anywhere but above the ring.
Baldwin dribbles left and shoots a three to the right, one that breaks the front rim.
Poyters tries a baby hook.
And these are just small examples.
So between an excessive involvement like Sharas's in the attack, and a lack of involvement like Ketch's, the necessary truth is something in the middle.
And Maccabi scored only 36 points the entire second half, at home, against a team that arrived without two top five players.
Maccabi scored only 5 difficult three-pointers from 20 attempts, Barcelona scored 13 and missed another 10 completely free.
But it's not just shooting accuracy.
This is how you get to her.
catch
Something got stuck, photo: Alan Shiver
In practice we saw a game between a European team and an American team.
In Barcelona, the squad is made up of Spaniards, Czechs, Slovenians and Serbians, Turkish, Italians and Lithuanians, and one American (Higgins) who has been playing in Europe for eight years, the last four in Barcelona.
Maybe because in Spain there is no tax break for Americans.
Maccabi builds an American squad every season, which reached its peak this season, when yesterday the retirement of Guy Panini from the national team saved Maccabi from a new low of a squad with no talent at all.
I miss Sorkin.
And the excellent John Dee saved the honor of the blue and white.
But Barcelona's squad is more suitable for playing in Europe, against Maccabi who insists on an American squad, which is based on personal ability and athleticism.
All the top teams in Europe have European guards.
Maccabi has none.
What is?
Too many foreigners: Hollins and Martin are only playing because they are foreigners and are listed on the form.
And so Ketch was forced to extend the rotation and lose momentum in social exchanges.
What does this mean you ask?
In this European basketball, the players know what to do in the last five seconds of the attack.
And it's not just dribbling and shelling from three.
Barcelona scored five painful baskets at the buzzer, thanks to surgical ball movement until the free throw.
The pass is the first option, and that's how we got a difference of 24:16 in assists.
Dibartholomew.
Still tried to save something, photo: Alan Shiver
In European basketball, there is a wise use of smart tall players who know how to pass and play in the pivot position.
Maccabi has in the 5 position two athletes who are not tall and do not know how to play with their backs to the basket, except for Nibo's flash moment.
Indeed, Lorenzo Brown is an expert in the European game, after the Eurobasket experience, and is trying to make a team, even at the expense of personal statistics.
He gives up shots to bring in another player.
And when he got Yokobeitis, he scored eight consecutive points on his head in two minutes.
But alone he will not save.
On the other hand, Baldwin mentioned the concerns about him with two technicals in terrible timing, and shooting percentages from three that missed the display against Monaco.
In the end you just have to score.
And with five 3-pointers Maccabi won't win games.
In Maccabi's big team, the one Sharas led, there were only two foreigners (Baston and Parker), and another smart European played with him in the pivot position.
His name was Nikola Vycic, and yesterday, with unusual timing, he announced that he would be leaving at the end of the year.
In this story there is still more hidden than visible, but there may be a long-term opportunity here.
Nikola was the one who signed almost only Americans, probably because of the tax benefit, maybe because of a wrong perception of basketball.
He also brought some Croatian Europeans, but mostly those he had an interest in.
Maybe Maccabi will learn from this game and from Aras how to play European basketball and how to build a European squad.
And maybe you will understand that winning the last cup in 2014 (based on American foreigners) was thanks to a genius coach and a great motivator combined with a lot of luck.
And maybe try to change her ways.
Because in the meantime, because of the growing number of American foreigners it requires, just to build a squad, and the rules it demanded and received in the local league, the entire league is flooded with foreigners from Uncle Sam's country, unnecessarily and without justification, and also harms the team, which will play today in an abysmal anti-climax against Slovenia.
Perhaps Nicola's departure will be a watershed.
Because right now, Maccabi is a mediocre or below team that will never make it to the playoffs again.
And it's been like this for nine years, since Nikola sat down in the manager's chair (except for the scare last season under the auspices of Putin).
But in the meantime, Maccabi will have to find strength, and changes, and quality, to win away from home, without its audience, or another season will be lost in the pit of mediocrity.
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