Execution department
If Maccabi had implemented its entire game plan as accurately as it played the last 17 seconds, in which it reduced the difference from ten to six, it would have won against all odds.
If Ketch was as sharp and accurate as he was in those moments, with the instruction to Breimo to miss the second ball, Maccabi should not have gone down disappointed and a little embarrassed that they played for the difference at the end, as if there was a chance that they would reach a tie with Olympiakos at the end of the season.
And of course then the referees wouldn't have extended the last half minute to a quarter of an hour of monitor games either.
But Maccabi didn't win and didn't implement any game plan, because they didn't really have one, beyond telling Baldwin - take it, it's all on you.
You are our coordinator.
The duck song
And the news and the main thing first: Baldwin is not a coordinator.
He is not a coordinator!
He may look like a point guard, and dribble like a point guard, and talk like a point guard, and wear a point guard's shirt, but he is not a point guard.
He is also not a scorer even though he scores.
He doesn't have a touch and move passing game, he dribbles while upright, but his gaze is lowered, and so from such a position he can't even raise his head and signal a drill.
It never happens.
His assists almost always come when he gets into some awkward corner on the dribble, and then his teammates bail him out with the right movement.
The problem is that half of the times it ends in a turnover, and since he is the fullback but runs down to the defense while looking in amazement at his friends who didn't help him, most of the turnovers end in a layup on the other side.
Yesterday there were at least four of them that created an escape for Olympiakos every time Maccabi got close.
Baldwin is only effective in the number 2 position when he doesn't have to carry the ball, but just receive the ball in motion with an advantage over the defender.
Whoever puts him in the center position loses him, twice.
Nivo fails to stop Paul, photo: EPA
Decision Making
Before the game, the main question for me was whether Baldwin would stand up to the pressure.
The pressure to prove to Olympiakos that he was released.
The pressure to prove to Ketch that he can lead like Lorenzo Brown.
The pressure of being the only point guard on the roster (at least that's what he was told).
I will lead, I will navigate, I am the creator.
From the beginning it was clear that he was very stressed, which led to a semi-nirvana, a completely flat emotional state, and this is evident in his body language.
When Ketsch told him that he had no replacement and he stayed on the field (35 minutes!), he also had to adjust himself and play in first gear to keep the power, which bothers him even more.
Beyond losses, the most accurate measure of stress and a stormy emotional state is the power of the shot, simply the power you have in the levers that support the shot: knees -> stomach -> shoulder -> elbow -> palm -> fingertips.
At least half of Baldwin's shots hit the front rim, and he also had at least three clean air balls.
4 of 16 from the field, including 1 of 6 from three.
"Your destroyers and your destroyers will come out of you."
What was to prove.
And the mistake was Ketch's who did not recognize the trend, and continued to base himself on it, as if there was no choice.
And there is a choice.
Five minutes in heaven
The first five minutes were fun.
The rise of John Dee in the fifth freed Baldwin in the opening, and there he still did not force or throw with power.
The ball moved, and Maccabi went up 18:8.
But then DiBartholomew's second foul came, and everything fell apart in an instant.
It's amazing to find out that Maccabi invested so much money in this team this summer, but their most important player is almost not counted.
In John Dee's 19 minutes, Maccabi won by ten points, and in Adams's 24 minutes, it lost by 10. But Baldwin insisted on centering, and Ketch insisted on letting him.
Maccabi's best basketball happened in the few moments when Baldwin was not on the court or chose not to dribble.
But they were few.
Maccabi has a lot of team players who understand the passing game and move without the ball, but the game method that depends on a dribbling center destroys any good momentum.
I say dribble point guard because it also happens when Lorenzo Brown plays.
The difference against Olympiakos' game of devotion and movement were striking and screaming up to the ceiling of the Hall of Peace and Brotherhood,
DiBartholomew (left).
Why doesn't he get more credit?, Photo: EPA
rotation and mutation
After the game against Elba, the section predicted that Hilliard, Manko and Petah Ziv would not upgrade their status following their good play, and indeed, despite Brown's absence, Yeftah Ziv, the only natural center in Maccabi, did not even dress.
Hilliard and Manko got a few minutes in the second half and took one shot each, despite a combined 5 of 6 three-pointers last week, and the urgent need for three-point shooters to open up the tough Greek defense.
The introduction of Brymo into the rotation dropped Jake Cohen to the rear, and thus the hierarchy that was established at the end of 2022 in the absence of Baldwin and Poythers, Maccabi's most beautiful and effective period of the season, was finally destroyed.
Can't Manco fill the role that Austin Hollins does?
Can't Yeftah Ziv concentrate more effectively than Adams?
I will repeat this mantra until the end of the season.
Maccabi has too many players, too many foreigners (Braimo is the 10th foreigner registered in the team!), and in this regard, all the extras are wasted.
To remind you, we finished the 21st cycle, and Maccabi is still busy with experiments, detections, adjustments and searches.
She already had it in her pocket a month ago, with Jake Cohen in the top five, with John Dee as a first-choice scorer/point guard, and with Roman Sorkin as a game-changing forward.
But the need to fill the ranks with more mediocre players, just because it can, does not allow Maccabi to develop and produce a real playing method, and to give confidence and stability to its important players, and thus it remains dependent on the mercies of Lorenzo Brown's concentration.
And in his absence, she will go to Spain for a pair of very difficult games, with the same team, and if she continues to place the responsibility on Baldwin, she will look at the table in a week and realize that the Euroleague has escaped her, while she is busy arranging the squad and taking care of the ego of her quasi-coordinator.
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