Tiktuknu: clip summarizing today's events in sports, 24.2 (Sport1)
1. A very big sigh of relief was released last night (Thursday) by Yad Eliyahu, with the end of Maccabi Tel Aviv's 82:90 victory over Bayern Munich that left the team strong in the playoff picture.
The sigh of relief came mainly in light of Maccabi Tel Aviv's not good enough ability for a little more than three quarters, in which they chased the Bavarian rival who lost a chance to reach the playoffs, and finally the chase ended successfully.
As in many evenings this season, it was once again Lorenzo Brown who excelled with 27 points and 6 assists, including many big moves in the last quarter.
Wade Baldwin, who kept the Yellows in the game until Brown's explosion, scored 15 points, gave 8 assists and pulled down 8 rebounds, with the exception of the two of them, no one scored in double figures and did not record a double-digit index.
Jarel Martin, Roman Sorkin and John DiBartholomew each added 8 points.
As mentioned, Oded Ketch's team chased after Bayern, who made 3-pointers, controlled the rebound and was one step ahead until the last quarter.
"We didn't close well for the rebound, but a lot of rebounds were far away. It's not an excuse, we need to close better, but in the second half we relatively reset, we won the game which is what's important for the playoffs, which is the main goal. We'll have to show better ability if we want to win Also in the next game," said Roman Sorkin at the end.
Jaylen Adams dislocated his shoulder during the first half and did not play again.
For Adams it is an injury that has recurred several times in his career and in the previous cases he knew how to come back from it in a short period of time.
Maccabi Tel Aviv estimated that he is expected to miss the upcoming match against Monaco, and possibly the double round after that in the Euroleague, but not much beyond that.
took over the game when Baldwin rested.
Brown (Photo: Danny Maron)
2. 4:14 to the end of the third quarter, Oded Ketesh brought Rafi Manko and John DiBartolomeu onto the field, trailing 56:49, and took out Baldwin and Martin.
For a moment Ketch played with Bonzie Colson in the number 4 position, but returned to the lineup where Maccabi Tel Aviv has one main decision maker - Lorenzo Brown.
As already written here yesterday, Brown and Baldwin are much better separately than together, at least up to this point in the season.
Baldwin returned to the field with 3:48 left in the final quarter.
Brown was on the court without him for 10 minutes and 26 seconds, during which Maccabi Tel Aviv scored 32 points, conceded only 21 and turned the game around.
In the last minutes, Baldwin also got involved, and the host closed the matter on the way to victory.
After the game, the coach admitted that the fact that in the last two months his team played very few games with Brown and Baldwin together hurt the flow, but he was satisfied that even though the run was made only with Brown on the field, Baldwin knew how to help finish the game.
"I want to help the team in any way I can, even if I'm on the bench. The physiotherapists do the best job with me so that I can help. Sometimes I'm out, sometimes Wade is out. It's a blessing to have a player like that with me in the team, there's no one else like him in this league, Such an athlete. He's a great player," Brown said to his friend.
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remain in the playoff picture.
Maccabi Tel Aviv players (photo: Danny Maron)
3. Before the cup week, we analyzed Ketch's situation and we knew that if he didn't register a win, as actually happened, his situation before the decision-making stages in the Euroleague would be significantly worse than if he had achieved a first degree for the season.
Indeed, Ketch came to the game last night knowing that he had to get past Bayern both to keep his team's chance of reaching the playoffs and not to lead to a situation where questions about his future would once again arise long before the end of the season.
He seemed very angry on the lines, sometimes angry with the players, also with the referees in certain situations, and the victory took some of the pressure off of him in the last week.
"Oded knows that every game now for us is to be or to stop, and it is not certain that he looks at his future the same way he looks at the great desire of the system to reach the playoffs," said one of the Maccabi Tel Aviv people after the game.
"He was angry because what the players showed was infuriating for many minutes. We are also happy for him that it ended well in the end."
He came back to himself after two months.
Roman Sorkin (Photo: Danny Maron)
4. Another one of the heroes of the victory in the decisive minutes was Sorkin.
In the last two months, it seemed that the good moments of the infielder are diminishing, despite a number of good Euroleague games in these two months as well, when even the signing of his new contract has not released him yet.
Until the second half yesterday.
Sorkin recorded three significant dunks in Maccabi Tel Aviv's run, from three mistakes in Bayern Munich's defense, put himself into the game at an energetic level, lifted the team when it needed him and ended a positive performance with a victory.
"I blocked and they passed to me and I tried to finish properly, but what won the game was our defense and energy," Sorkin said at the end of the game about what he gave in the second half.
Helped close the matter in the closing minutes.
Baldwin (Photo: Danny Maron)
5. Last night's victory brought Maccabi Tel Aviv closer to its goal - the playoffs.
19 wins, which means six more in nine rounds remaining until the end of the regular season, will surely be enough to enter the last eight.
In a certain situation, 18 will be enough, and some believe that maybe even 17.
The Yellows have five more home games and four more away games, when in the next two weeks they will play twice away - against Monaco and Anadolu Efes, and in between a home game against Fenerbahçe.
Almost all members of the club know that the situation in which they will be in two weeks, on Friday after the game in Istanbul, will determine whether they have a chance to enter the playoffs.
Three losses will put them in an almost impossible situation.
"That's the only thing on our mind, to reach the playoffs and take a championship in Israel. We're looking forward to it," Brown said last night after the victory, looking at the disappointment they had with the loss in the cup final, "I know we can play a better offense and a better defense in the whole game, That we don't have to look for solutions on the bench the whole game."
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basketball
Euroleague and European basketball
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Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball