exposition
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Oded Ketch came to the game in a poor mental and emotional state.
After an offensive home loss to Red Star, and especially losing the cup to Jerusalem.
What determines the status of the coach at Maccabi Tel Aviv is always the local scene.
You can win or lose in Europe, but there Maccabi is armored and will keep trying, as it has been doing for a decade without success.
But losing the cup is already a deep scratch in the yellow heart, a loss of inner confidence between the players and with the coach, and a risk to the coaching and trust position (like Sarapoulos in the previous season after the loss in the cup, or Ketch in the previous term at Maccabi).
Such a situation creates great pressure, although it can also be used for peak motivation and attitude change.
In addition, the opponent has already lost its playoff chances, and arrived without three important rotation players.
Good coaches (like Tranquieri) take advantage of the lack of material for better connection, coverage and team play, and encourage the secondary players to prove themselves.
But for Maccabi, the news about the missing lineup also adds uncontrollable complacency.
The coach can say: I knew, I warned, I shouted.
But the only way to deal with complacency is to replace the top five with players who have more to prove.
Create a new situation for you too.
So much for the theory and introduction of the play.
Act one: opening of the game
Ketch, the prince of Maccabi, is a coach who finds it difficult to decide on a change.
From the beginning of the year there was one month of improvement, December 2022, in which Baldwin was injured, and Maccabi went up with Jake Cohen in the top five.
Since 2023, Maccabi has returned to mediocrity in making decisions and placing the fives, and despite the known prerequisites, Ketch came up yesterday with the best fives on paper and the worst in practice, as if he had learned nothing in the last six months.
So quickly we got used to the all-American five.
With all the respect I buy for America (and I buy anything to do with America), this is a five that doesn't have players who connect, who save for others, and give the extra pass for others, and fight for everyone.
It looked bad from the start, and Maccabi, as usual, fell victim to the chase.
Once an injured Maccabi would pounce on the opponent, now she is apathetic.
But the show must go on.
catch
Fixed on the fives, photo: Alan Shiver
Second act: until the middle of the third quarter
Everything is the same.
learning?
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
What advantage did Maccabi create in all its work, if Bayern takes 19 offensive rebounds, and scores 12 three-pointers?
No improvement has been observed since the beginning of the year in the defensive rebounding and the organized game in the attack.
Sorry, last night we discovered an interesting exercise with a back block for a slinger in the corner.
This.
Baldwin continues to look like a star, getting the ball to lead and dribble even when Brown is on the court (perhaps to ease Lorenzo's injured ankle), but you're literally waiting for the next wild pass or punt airball.
For every drop a slap.
And when Maccabi has two fouls to give at the end of the quarter, nobody does, and twice they made a basket at the buzzer.
You can go crazy.
At halftime: Maccabi scored 1 of 7 to three.
The problem is also in 1 but especially in 7. Not getting the shots is as bad as not scoring them.
Bayern with 6 of 17 three-pointers in the half, most of which come after an offensive rebound, the best situation to score a three-pointer, when the ball comes from the inside out and the scorer is comfortable and relaxed.
Numbers that were very reminiscent of the match between Germany and Israel in the Mundo qualifiers.
The third quarter continues the same narrative, with Trancairi skillfully breaking down the only element of Maccabi's attack (the pick and roll).
And Ketch continues to insist on his inappropriate high five, as if to say: You cooked it, you will eat it.
Baldwin.
It came out again in Money Time, photo: Alan Shiver
The third act:
Just before complete doom, in the 26th minute, Ketch asked himself: to be or not to be?
And decided to continue to be, with the event that changed the game: he remembered what he was working on in 2022, and the recent victories: a quintet with two or three Israelis, and especially the elimination of Baldwin.
The loyal assistants Count Manco and John Bartholomew were jumped in to save the kingdom.
And here, as if by magic, everything turns around: Maccabi presses, grabs and runs, takes a rebound, and returns to its best days at the end of 2022. Only then, and without Baldwin, Brown is released and takes it upon himself, knocks down threes, penetrates, the ankle is completely healed.
Only then does Coulson get the ball with his advantage over the defense.
After 6 minutes of change, Maccabi is already in the lead, and will not drop again.
So elementary.
And no, this is not a smart move by Ketch.
She may be smart, but a smart person doesn't get into situations that a smart person manages to get out of.
Tranquility's short blanket crumbled, and Maccabi reached the goal, even if it happened on a broken cane support and a corner of chicken legs.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, yesterday at the temple. They got another thriller, photo: Alan Shiver
Epilogue :
Despite all of the above, Maccabi's fate is in its hands, and especially in the hands of its coach.
If she wins five home games and steals one on the road, she'll probably be in the playoffs.
But Ketch must show learning in building the quintet and the formations that follow, and above all find the place for Baldwin.
The combination of Brown and Baldwin does not gain anything for Maccabi, and it is better for Baldwin to be his replacement, but not to play as a center.
That means Maccabi will have to play in two modes of action, with Brown and without him.
But more importantly, that from the first moment you will be the owner of the house.
Press, grab, run, and fight for the defensive rebound.
Because in her blood he is.
And Ketch must build the coordinated fives, with at least two supporting players, to have more team and more kingdom.
Otherwise the squeak will turn rotten.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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