First we will take Manhattan Israel today

No victory is taken for granted, certainly not away, certainly for a team that until ten days ago had not known a victory other than this one.

Ending a series of three away games with a positive balance of 2:1 is a significant upgrade to Maccabi Tel Aviv's ability, confidence, connection, inner belief and coaching status.

It feels great to be on the other side of the headlines and the result: Maccabi didn't get Milan and Alba out of the crisis, it deepened it for them.

She did not lose the game in the fourth quarter, she actually excelled and turned the game around in this quarter, exactly the opposite of the ending in Bologna.

So what happened there while the money was on the table?

4 good minutes

You can say it was a good second half.

You can look at Maccabi's run from the moment Alba went up 11 in the third quarter.

But all in all, these were four minutes in the fourth quarter, between 5:30 and 1:30 minutes to the end, in which Maccabi took a bite of spinach and turned into Popeye - big, strong, with aggressive pressure maintenance, perfect help in defense, patient and efficient ball movement in the attack, and complete control of the rebound.

Four minutes of the most accurate basketball this team can and should produce.

It included Nivo at his peak, Coulson and Adams as connection and energy players, Lorenzo Brown in an accurate zone and not taking power, and the Yellows' ace Jarrell Martin who perfectly utilized being the ultimate miss match against all Elba players.

No one there can guard him in the paint, and not outside, and certainly not when he moves quickly between the positions.

Lorenzo Brown, photo: courtesy of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Instagram

And if you ask why only four minutes?

Why can't you play forty like this?

The answer is: yes, but it's perfectly fine.

What is important is that Maccabi proved that it can, and Ketch found the right combination to explode, and she has these four minutes to rely on, to be a model, and to return to in every group conversation: remember those four minutes?

Now let's restore them.

checks and balances

The most important change in the last month is the stability of the rotation and understanding the structure of the right five for Maccabi.

The rise of Jake Cohen in the top five creates a precise balance of intelligence, height and energy throughout the rotation;

Like a fine engine oil that helps all components warm up at the start of a ride.

Ketch produces balanced fives, so there are also fewer substitutions, and players play more consecutive minutes and contribute more.

For example, the first five played six consecutive minutes, and the first substitution was not good (Martin and Hilliard instead of Cohen and Coulson) - which created a lack of coordination.

Oded felt it immediately (and the scoreboard also said so), so within a minute John Dee and Sorkin also entered and the harmony returned.

The same thing happened at the beginning of the third quarter, when the Yellows came up with an unbalanced five, and Alba escaped to an 11-point difference.

After only 2 minutes the coach brought Sorkin in and the delicate balances returned.

But when I read that Maccabi is looking for another player, I'm afraid that she still doesn't fully understand the importance of these balances - it's more important than the amount of overall talent, it's more important than another rebound or another freshman.

Harmony in the rotation is of critical importance to the ability of all players, it multiplies the ability of all.

Now there is an orderly hierarchy, the rotation is smooth and logical for the players.

A new actor will arrive, step on Martin's toes, on Coulson's hand, and Sorkin will step back.

This has happened many times before.

If it ain't broke, don't touch it.

The yellow crowd.

Comes everywhere, photo: courtesy of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Instagram

Patch Adams

The most fascinating player in Maccabi Tel Aviv today is Jaylen Adams, because of the profound change he is going through in front of our examining eyes.

And the coincidence plays an amusing role: if Hilliard had not been injured at the start of the season, he would not have returned to Israel at all.

While Baldwin had not been injured, the American was already back in an esoteric league.

And here he is, reaching the rank of the team's second most important player, and its barometer.

When he is good, Maccabi will usually be in the game and win.

After a record season in Jerusalem, the Yellows brought Adams only as a patch to block arteries until the stars returned.

And although he has always had trouble playing second fiddle, he adapts himself to the needs, complements Brown and does not compete with him, and shows that he knows how to enter an existing slot and not just draw a new one around himself.

At all the critical points in the game in Berlin - Adams was there.

In the first five that gave confidence going into the game, in the tremendous basket at the end of the third quarter that reduced the difference to 2, and in the last change four minutes before the smash in the fourth quarter, when he came in to lead the 16:0 run.

With Brown shooting just 6-20 from the field, Adams went 7-11.

And he can give even more, only he understands his status and place.

Then we will take Berlin

Elba Berlin started the season with a storm, with three wins in the first three games, and since then counts 12 consecutive losses.

It's a classic model of teams with excellent preparation for the season, who arrive in excellent shape and dismantle everything that moves, draw many compliments, but then the other teams catch up with the level of preparation and the statistics align.

It also happens to her at the start of a game, which is always better thanks to a perfect game plan, but as the games progress the flaws are revealed and this is usually not enough for her.

The flaws include messy play in the last quarter and weak game management with incomprehensible rotations that helped Maccabi get back into the game, especially at the end of the third quarter.

Sorkin.

An important screw in Ketch's rotation, photo: courtesy of Maccabi Tel Aviv's Instagram

So why is it even important to talk about Alba?

Because it has an atypical American player that I would like to have in every Israeli team, Luke Sikma, the son of the great Jack, who always reminds me of Mike Largy who played for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the great 80's.

And it also has a coach named Israel, and two senior Israeli players, who chose to play for her because they couldn't find their place in basketball in Israel.

Alba's Israelis defeated Maccabi's 15:9 in points.

In a true, smart, and Israeli world, Blatt and Susman, the two stars of Ketch's reserve team, which won the silver medal at the 2017 European Championship, should have played for the same Oded in Maccabi Tel Aviv.

But the yellows chose the path of taking all of Manhattan, and even though they took Berlin last night, this is not the right path.

Where do we go from here?

Maccabi was positive in all its critical indicators: controlled the rebound, scored penalties accurately, with a positive ratio of assists to turnovers, 11 three-pointers at 40%.

She continues to tighten the defense, and for the fourth game she has conceded less than 80 points.

So no matter what you do, no matter how you do it.

And now we'll see if what was built is really good enough for the next level, against the European champion and her runner-up.

And most importantly - not to change, only to improve.

were we wrong

We will fix it!

If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us