Recap: Badalona vs Real Madrid 94:73 (Sport 1)
Anyone who hasn't seen the series between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Monaco might think Lorenzo Brown had a good series. 15.4 points, 4.2 assists, 38 percent from three, those really aren't bad numbers. However, the games themselves, especially Maccabi's losses in the third and fifth games, were weak games by the American star of the Yellows, finishing with a 0 score in more than 35 and a half minutes.
Until that series, no one in Maccabi Tel Aviv or among its fans thought that the day would soon come when the player they fell in love with immediately, the man who was considered a steal in Maccabi's terms and who signed a significant contract extension for excellent money, would become one for whom there is already more than one question mark about ability in Money Time.
But Brown, who was very lukewarm in the unimpressive quarter-final series against Hapoel Be'er Sheva and looked a little better later on, disappointed big time in the second game of the derby. Just before tonight's grand final at 21:00 PM, all eyes are on him scrutinically and suspiciously, and if he doesn't know how to shake off his last period, he might go up to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the championship himself.
May cost Maccabi Tel Aviv the championship, and more in a derby series (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
For a few months after the start of the season, one of the points that was increasingly emphasized in Maccabi Tel Aviv's professional analysis was that in too few games both Lorenzo Brown and Wade Baldwin are good together. But in the big run of the Yellows, which led the team to the Euroleague playoffs, the two looked great together, and one after the other were signed to a contract extension.
In the second part of the season, Baldwin became Maccabi's more dominant player and even won the Euroleague Player of the Month award, taking the reins in quite a few games and Brown joining him in good form. "This collaboration, with Wade being the more dominant player in scoring and Lorenzo doing other things as well, worked very well," one Maccabi member said yesterday. Because Jerrell Martin was excellent, because Josh Nivo flourished, John Dee was outstanding. Everything came together, Lorenzo didn't have to score every game and be super dominant, things flowed."
As mentioned, the point where things started to turn around was in the series against Monaco. Or rather in the third game in the same series. In the first two games, Brown was not passionate, but Maccabi came back with a win, but in the third game, when things did not go in the direction of the yellows, he was too anemic with 8 shots in three quarters, and 5 in the last quarter when the direction of loss was already quite clear. In the fifth game, Brown was bad even though he tried to be aggressive in the first half, just didn't score.
"There's no doubt that in decisive games the expectation of Lorenzo is to be more aggressive from the start," says one Maccabi Tel Aviv official, "It doesn't come naturally to him, especially in light of Wade's aggressiveness and dominance. He needs to know how to find himself as second fiddle, and still be aggressive, and do the other things he does well. To do it on a game-by-game basis is not easy and maybe too difficult."
Oded Ketch was also not angry with Brown after the second game, in the derby despite being weak with 4 points. "Lorenzo has been for us in a lot of big games, winning important games for us. To attribute a game like that to him, I don't think anyone here stepped on the pitch and was above average. It's a combination of many things. There are bad days, they might have won the game on a shooting day like this, but in this way it's much more than basketball."
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"It doesn't come naturally to him." Baldwin and Brown (Photo: Danny Maron)
Aside from Brown's offensive ability, there's another problem plaguing his game and that's inadequate defensive ability. "This is something that was known about Lorenzo, who is not the greatest guard in the world," Maccabi said, "although he showed in several games that he is more into it, his defense also looks better."
And that's the crux of the problem with Brown, the fact that, unlike Wade Baldwin and Bonzi Coulson, two players who are very extroverted, show their emotions, jump and rage, and sometimes even tease opponents, Brau is "expressionless," and sometimes it's unclear how much he is in the game, how much he lives in the moment and the importance.
One of his Maccabi teammates said after the loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv on Tuesday that Brown is a different kind of leader. A leader by example, not one who will yell in the locker room, not one who will yell on the court, but one who will talk to his friends, who will talk to the professional staff and try to explain things. What is certain is that what you see on the outside is really not what you see inside.
A different kind of leader (Photo: Danny Maron)
As mentioned, at the end of the first part of the season, Maccabi Tel Aviv opened Brown's contract, and instead of an option for the upcoming season, signed him for two more guaranteed years, until the summer of 2025 with an option for another season. The big problem at this time is that Brown is supposed to be with Spain at the World Championships this summer and then maybe at the Olympics as well. This means that from August 2023 to June 2025 he may have a few weeks off. He finishes this season after nearly 11 full months of basketball.
At the end of his guaranteed contract, Brown will be 35 years old, who already at the time of the significant extension spoke of age as an element of gambling on Maccabi's part. Now, with the question marks born during the season, all that contract extension looks even more dangerous. What is certain is that losing tonight's championship will put Brown in the spotlight, and not as Maccabi wants.
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- Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball
- Lorenzo Brown