Ketch's thin staff
"We need to thicken the staff. We can't stay so thin."
This is what Oded Ketch said after the game, and I wonder if this is an Obradovic-style provocation to wake up the substitutes, or simply a lack of understanding about the existence of his bench players.
How should Hilliard feel, who didn't play a minute yesterday (Wednesday).
Not to mention Manko who didn't take off his sweatpants, and Vahidah Ziv and Panini who didn't even wear one.
After all, on Monday they will already be asked to move Maccabi to a stage in the cup, and then they will be the most important and the best.
Maybe the problem is that the coach was never a secondary player.
But even if you think another player is needed, there is no point in talking about it in public, it sounds like whining and an excuse for losses, especially when it happens after a victory.
And also the very need for another player should be debated.
Maccabi's leading players.
Where is the rotation?, Photo: Alan Shiver
What Maccabi really needs to do is release a player or two.
The story of Hollins has gone on too long and his social exchange brings down Maccabi every time.
And even Hilliard, who still can't find his place, can be put out of his misery.
Maccabi's improvement in the last month came largely thanks to the absence of Baldwin and Poithers, and now the return of the former has messed up Maccabi's rotation.
Luckily for her, the partisan rush is bigger.
Baldwin
Wade Baldwin's return from injury is mismanaged and hysterical which hurts the team's progress.
Against Real, he was sent to the field after 4 minutes and did not produce anything, and yesterday he was already in the top five, playing for himself, shooting from three and not hitting (0:7), and only here and there mentioning his talent in penetrating the ring.
Game 5 treble against Monaco remains up in the air but not restored.
And the big problem this creates is the relegation of Adams, Maccabi's second most important player in the last month, to the position of assistant and assistant only.
The tension in the second center position will not be healthy for Maccabi, and the attempt to play with all three together is doomed to failure.
Baldwin yesterday.
His return destroys?, photo: Alan Shiver
The right way is to integrate Baldwin slowly, only for special assignments right now, because he is rusty and not yet in full basketball shape.
And so both Adams and John Dee, who were among the leaders of the positive revolution, are forced to see him destroy the game with the support of Ketch, who expects greatness and sieges from him, which he is unable to deliver at the moment.
So great was the expectation, that Oded played with Baldwin in an attack defense exchange at the end, when he had 4 fouls.
But what attack was worth it?
Missing 7 three-pointers will also open up Ziv, but he will at least save.
And also score a three or two.
If only he had received the confidence and credit of the foreigners.
Mr. Bonzie and Mr. Coulson
Coulson and Martin are the players who benefited and progressed the most from Poithers' injury, and the ones who will be hurt the most if Maccabi makes the mistake of bringing in another forward.
Coulson can score from any range, but that's not his main advantage.
Defense, sharing, impressive and smart movement without the ball, touches a lot of balls in defense, and fights for every rebound.
But at the same time, he demonstrates the behavior of a provocateur child and exaggerated predictions of "push me" that do not fit the level.
I understand that he enjoys the game and it's okay to stay a little childish, even Steve Jobs recommended it.
But it's not trash talking at a high level, it's just infantile taunting the opponent, and especially one in a defeated state on the floor.
It happened in the derby, it happened again against Haifa, and it happened yesterday.
Someone in management must reset it immediately.
Coulson.
Challenging dynamics, photo: Alan Shiver
The legitimacy of Ketch
The yellow coach is allowed to lean back for a moment, look at the progress, observe the table, and be satisfied.
Maccabi is in the top eight, the team is healthy and happy, it is progressing and it is winning.
Rumblings about his replacement have rightly disappeared, and he already has wins over Messina, Atman and Obradovic.
There will always be pressure and expectations at Maccabi, but I think he can relax a bit, and realize that another player will only complicate him.
The cases where a player who arrived late in the season contributed something real are few and far between.
This is your group, go with it.
And there is someone to go to war with.
catch
There is someone to go to war with, photo: Alan Shiver
Jake Cohen returned to the top five and the balance returned.
Sometimes it's hard to explain why a secondary player is so important, but I've already called Jake engine oil.
He arranges the rotation of the tall ones so nicely and makes it possible to bring Martin off the bench.
Maccabi is already pressing as a strategy, after timeouts, after a penalty basket, and yesterday even after a substitution.
Excellent and refreshing.
In so many games Maccabi fell behind early, and here it actually ran 12:0 in the opening, and in fact Partizan chased the whole game, and the gap from the first quarter lasted.
What Hapoel Tel Aviv was able to do in London, Partizan was not able to do in Hichal, even though it is a good quarter 4 team.
And it is not obvious to hold an advantage throughout a whole game.
A lot of tension dissipates when you see 12:0 and 18:4 on the board.
And it is hard mental work to maintain the advantage - Partizan did not lead for a single second.
And yet, the deep and not at all thin roster causes Ketch to make many changes too soon.
Players are in good physical shape, it is possible to stretch the very successful first five a bit.
The problem is that after the initial enthusiasm there is stabilization, and then you need a reasonable set of games, and Maccabi still has a lot of work to do in this regard.
Brown, Baldwin and Adams dribbling and shelling is not exactly an orderly game.
But even that was enough against the hole in Partizan's center position, unfortunately with the drying up of Yam Medar after 3 minutes of the opening blitz.
And it is appropriate to give Ketch additional credit for the successful challenge that broke partisan momentum and brought 5 points to Maccabi with Nivo's dunk after reversing the judges' decision.
Maccabi won by 9 points and now has a 2 and a half game lead over Partizan.
very significant.
In an interview on the Euroleague website, Oded Ketch talks to 5-year-old Oded, and tells him that basketball will open up a new world for him, take him around the world and introduce him to places and people.
And it reminded me of "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Warren.
Of all the wise sentences in this book, I am always happy to quote one, which was said by Philias Fogg to Passepartout, and is very appropriate for the situation of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ketch:
Learn to use what you have got, so you don't need what you don't have.
In free translation: learn to use what you have, and you won't need what you don't have.
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