Tiktuknu: Summary of the day in sports, 9.12 (Sport1)
1.
After a long and discouraging period, Maccabi Tel Aviv hopes to have started last night (Thursday) the road back to the groove in the Euroleague with a convincing home victory 68:84 over the Spanish Valencia.
Thanks to the victory, Maccabi increased to a balance of six wins and six losses and got closer to the playoff zone again.
The locker room and club staff seemed very happy at the end of the game, but with all due respect to the celebrations, one thing clouded the mood and that was Wade Baldwin's injury at the start of the fourth quarter.
The guard again felt the hamstring strain that prevented him from playing in both games last week in the EuroLeague and the league, and is expected to be out for at least a few weeks.
Baldwin will undergo imaging to rule out a more serious muscle injury, but it is doubtful he will return to action before January.
During the game, Maccabi showed great defense for the first 20 minutes, stopping Valencia on 10 points in the first quarter, 27 points in the half and got good ability from several players.
It was precisely in the third quarter that the Yellows stopped, and Valencia ran and came back behind 49:47, one minute to the end of the third quarter.
From this point the yellows managed to respond again, ran until the end at 21:35 and came away with the important victory.
Lorenzo Brown did lead the team's scorers with 15 points, but the one who stood out was Darren Hilliard with 11 points and 4 assists in 18 minutes off the bench, while Jake Cohen with 8 points and 5 rebounds in 14 minutes also contributed to the victory .
Improvement.
Brown and his friends (photo: Danny Maron)
2.
As mentioned, it was Darren Hilliard's return night.
Just last week, the guard who failed to properly enter the season was suspended after suffering an injury and then a deterioration in his status.
At Maccabi, there were those who thought that Hilliard would still find himself outside the team, but the dressing room embraced him, the crowd cheered him on, and he got the opportunity from Oded Ketch and reacted excellently.
"I was hoping that the crowd would accept me, considering the circumstances and everything that happened in the last few weeks, I wanted them to accept me and understand that I'm human and I was happy to be there for my friends. I was so happy to play the game that I love," said the American about his feeling before the game and then was asked about his selection for the outstanding In the game, "I was surprised that I was the MVP, I'm not looking for it, I come to play, to get the victory for my team, I was fine even if I wasn't the MVP. The important thing was the victory."
Hilliard admitted that this is his most difficult start with the team ever.
"This is definitely my most difficult opening in the team, but I believe that God does not give me something that I cannot withstand. I was chosen to go through this, it helped me see other things, helped me to get closer to my teammates, to become more of a leader, of course I would not want go through it again, but I'm glad I went through it."
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A welcome change.
Hilliard (Photo: Danny Maron)
3.
The second hero of the evening was, as mentioned, Jake Cohen.
When Maccabi Tel Aviv started looking for a replacement for Alex Poithers who will undergo surgery and is not supposed to return this season, they thought that in the meantime, Jarel Martin and Bonzie Coulson would be able to cover the gap.
Maccabi forgot their citizen, who shines several times a season with quality play and reminds us of what he knows how to give.
Until yesterday, Cohen played a total of 12 and a half minutes in the Euroleague, yesterday he played more than that, and was simply excellent.
"Being a professional means always being ready, I've always had confidence in myself, even if I'm not playing, I don't let myself lose my head, I come to work. I'm proud that I'm a professional and that I'm ready when the team calls on me," said the citizen.
Cohen was asked about whether he prepared himself differently for a game in which he might play, "I think I prepare for every game in the same way, no matter what happens, no matter what factory or if there are injuries, I keep my routine, I always come to be ready."
"I don't let myself lose my head, I come to work."
Cohen (Photo: Danny Maron)
4.
With all due respect to the league game tomorrow against Bnei Herzliya, Maccabi Tel Aviv's money time will be next week with two more away games in the Euroleague against Milan and Virtus Bologna.
The former has not yet won a home game this season in the EuroLeague and generally fails to win.
The second is a team with potential but often drops games.
Maccabi builds on the momentum from the current victory to break the streak of five away losses.
"We want that away win, we know we haven't got it yet, I hope God continues to bless us and give us that magic to get the away win," said Darren Hilliard.
Jake Cohen remained optimistic about the state of the team and added: "I'm very optimistic, we have great players and great people in the dressing room, I'm excited for our future. The fact that we have a foundation to build on, makes the continuation of our work easier."
will have to make a change in the staff?
Ketch (Photo: Danny Maron)
5.
At the same time as the victory in Maccabi Tel Aviv, they continue to try and formulate the decision on the identity of Poithers' replacement and bring about a deal that will bring him to the team.
One of the names on the table is the name of Dragan Bender, on which there is no consensus, but the fact that he knows the system may facilitate his absorption in the club, which gives him merit points.
At the same time, Yeftah Ziv recently asked to move from the team in light of the fact that he does not dress in the Euroleague at all and rarely played in the league until the last game against Hapoel Beer Sheva.
Maccabi Tel Aviv has not allowed him to leave as of now, and it is even possible that he will dress in the upcoming games in light of Baldwin's injury, but at the same time they are looking into the possibility of Max Heidegger's return from the Turkish league, and if the move helps, Ziv will be released.
Hapoel Jerusalem is interested in the player and at least one other European team wants to join him.
sport
basketball
Euroleague and European basketball
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Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball