Maccabi Tel Aviv must not dwell on the last two balls, which are embarrassing in themselves, when analyzing the disgraceful loss in Belgrade.
To give the last ball to Baldwin who was scattered and nervous the whole game, and had lost five balls by then?
And then the second-last ball out to Hollins who has to wait for Brown and wastes half the remaining time?
This is poor performance in the final seconds of a critical game.
But the dog is not buried here.
Pioneer Hall is a historic European hall for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The true history of the Maccabi Tel Aviv club began in this hall, with the winning of its first European Cup in 1977.
Shimon Mizrahi enters there with respect, knows every face from the entrance to the dressing room, and remembers exactly where the late Ralph Klein stood in the "Zionism Speech", that tremendous briefing before the game, entering the Pantheon:
"Now we are in front of the last stop. You are in front of the biggest thing that can happen to an athlete or a basketball player - to be European champion and you are very close to that. But you have to go on the floor with a smile on your face, not be too stressed and let them be the stressed. Tonight, at 9:30, The State of Israel will be watching you. Mobiljirgi Varza is just Varza's team. I don't think anyone in Naples even knows who Mobiljirgi Varza is. But with you - a whole country will sit and watch on TV. In this game we can win, we can lose, but when we go up For the floor we have to fight! Everyone has to give their 100%! The maximum they can do! This is the top of your basketball career! You can't get more than that! Mobiljirgy Varza won't give you a gift, you have to take it ! You have to take it for yourself in your own hands! And again you can do it and we will do it! That means we have to fight.We have to know that we can win and we can lose but we will do it like athletes"
Kuzmich runs over Poythers, yesterday, photo: Maccabi Tel Aviv, official website
With the exception of Israeli coaches, and even in world basketball, there was or is the pathos, historical baggage and wisdom of the great Ralph Klein.
And certainly a "routine" game in the Euroleague is not equal to the club's first European Cup final.
But Maccabi lost the game in the shameful first quarter defensively in which they conceded 27 points, from a much lower quality team.
Just for the sake of comparison, Maccabi beat HaKhavam in each of the other three quarters, conceding a total of only 42 points.
It has already been written here about Oded Ketch's weakness in mental and emotional preparation, despite being a mentalist and a man full of emotion, and Maccabi once again entered the game with a low level of arousal and excitement, and without appropriate emotion and fighting spirit.
In every away game without the home crowd, and especially in this hall, Maccabi deserves to be more excited and crazy.
But in the nerve-wracking opening, it was evident that the early preoccupation was mainly with basketball at the professional level, and not with fighting and defense, and thus Maccabi fell behind early and received a hounding penalty, and although it even managed to take a momentary lead,
And if we are talking about tactics, Ketch showed a number of improvements and measures, such as the complete internalization and acceptance of Roman Sorkin as Maccabi's second most important anchor, and the placement of John Dee as the third guard, even though this time he was weak, and aggravated Baldwin's weakness.
Regarding the rotation and the uncoordinated fives, there are still weaknesses and a lack of progress:
Hilliard continues to waste many idle minutes trying to replicate the four threes he scored against Partizan.
The weak five that was the regular starter until recently, which includes Poyters and Nivo together, was on the field at a critical time (three minutes to the end).
And the complete dependence on Lorenzo Brown has even intensified in this game, and it may soon fall apart.
Most of the weak points (15 turnovers, only 5 threes, messy standing game) stayed with us.
Maccabi needs at least three players with an excellent performance to win, and this time only Brown and Sorkin showed up.
Poyters in another game fell, and Martin was unable to recover the game the other day.
In the end, these are the players who have to play and score.
DiBartholomew, yesterday, photo: Maccabi Tel Aviv, official website
Only in the last two minutes of the third quarter, and then again at the end of the game, Ketch went for his small ball, the guard formation that has already won him the big games this season (Monaco and Olympiakos), and thus Maccabi managed to reduce the difference from 8 to 1 within a minute.
This is a vehicle that presses, runs, and closes gaps quickly.
But he can also play first and run away.
a fortiori.
This is the method that suits the current Maccabi, and it's a shame that it only takes a back seat at the end of games.
Too Little Too Light.
And so Coach Ivanovic, with the ponytail and the sarafan, who prepared his team excellently against the Maccabi players, won a third consecutive victory since he joined the star, leaving Maccabi without an away victory.
Even to beat a mediocre team, one star is not enough.
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