Tiktekno: clip summarizing today's events in sport, 30.1/Sport1
1.
In its two previous games at the Wizink Center, Maccabi Tel Aviv came out with two heavy defeats.
The average difference in favor of Real Madrid in the second game of the playoff series in 2022 and in the meeting in the capital of Spain last season, was 31.5 points.
Last night (Tuesday) the Yellows looked completely different, but left with an equally big disappointment after being defeated 106:101 by the Euroleague champions.
The yellows came to the game after the victory over Panathinaikos and the league victory over Ness Ziona and although they did not start the game well, they managed to stay in the picture every time thanks to three players: Wade Baldwin who scored 28 points, Bonzie Colson who added 25 and James Webb who contributed 18. The trio succeeded in big baskets Bringing Maccabi back into the game every time, until they were only two points behind with a minute to go, but no more than that.
At the end of the game, the team's players sounded and looked very disappointed, and walked around with a feeling that they could have won in a place where no one believed they would win.
"It's a tough loss. We fought until the end and it shows what character our team has, we have a lot to be proud of. We'll have to move on to Thursday and do what we can to get the win," Coulson said at the end.
"We didn't manage to win, but we played well until the end. We started the game a little less well, we raised the level and the energy, the attack and the defense until the end of the game. We were close to them," James Webb added.
The Yellows chose to go to Baskonia for the game on Thursday only after they will hold the final training tomorrow at noon at the Vizinc Center in Madrid.
You will actually only have one training session in Baskonia on the morning of the game.
He brought Maccabi back again and again, until it was over.
Baldwin opposite Rudy Fernandez/GettyImages, PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU
2.
Throughout the last few days, Maccabi Tel Aviv broadcast to the players that Real Madrid is indeed an excellent team, but also vulnerable.
Maccabi repeated and told the players that it is clear to them that after the last games in which Real started very weak and did not come back, the Blancos will emphasize on starting the game, so they must be focused and not let them run away and stay in the game, when they have the opportunity to come back.
Indeed, the yellows found a way to come back time after time.
In the second and third quarters, Maccabi reduced the double-digit deficit to 4-5, but all this was only preparation for what happened in the last quarter.
Maccabi recorded two comebacks in moments when it seemed that the game was going to be decided.
For the first time, the yellows came back from a 91:78 deficit, 7 minutes to the end, to 91:89.
Real escaped again to 100:89 with two minutes remaining, but Maccabi brought it down to 100:98 in 55 seconds.
And yet, the comeback was not complete, both because of Real's good offensive ability alongside the yellows' poor defensive ability, and also because of restlessness in the decisive moments.
In Real's run in the last minutes, Maccabi lost his head, technical fouls were whistled to Baldwin, Coulson and the bench, and in retrospect in those minutes the game was decided.
"As Oded said, you need a perfect game to win here, even if Real is not at its peak," said the club.
"We played well, but with such defensive ability and restlessness that characterized us precisely in the minutes when we needed composure, it is difficult to complete such a transformation."
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Campasso in front of Webb and Nieuw/GettyImages, PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU
3.
On a day when Maccabi Tel Aviv receives 71 points from Wade Baldwin, Bonzie Colson and James Webb and reaches 101 points, it's hard to talk about the poor offensive ability of some of the players, but when Lorenzo Brown finishes a game with 2 of 15 from the field, after starting The game with 0 of 12 from the field until the last quarter, it's hard not to consider what happened to the yellow star.
Even though Brown didn't score and missed a lot of shots that he usually takes, he kept throwing and throwing until the ball went in in the last quarter.
Out of 15 shots to the basket, Brown took 5 three-pointers, 8 shots from half distance and another two shots penetrating the basket.
Maccabi knows that Brown's horror show is not a very surprising thing in light of his medical condition.
"Lorenzo himself admitted that he is not yet 100 percent after the back injury," said the team, "this is not expressed in the fact that he is not playing, but a little in what he is trying to do. He takes much more shots from a distance and less goes into contact, and sometimes there are days when the ball Didn't go in. More penetrations to the basket would have put him in the game, like Wade learned to do. When Lorenzo feels better, he will return to play in the style we expect and want to see from him."
Will it look different when the injury is behind him?
Lorenzo Brown/GettyImages, PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU
4.
The only encouraging figure for Maccabi Tel Aviv after the loss is their record in the double weeks in the Euroleague.
So far the yellows have played seven double weeks and in all of them they came out with a balance of victory and loss, when it didn't matter what came first, the victory or the loss.
If history repeats itself, the Yellows should come away with a win from Basconi on Thursday in a very important game.
Ketch played again and used a relatively short rotation yesterday.
Although only three players played around 30 minutes, but Jake Cohen and John DiBartolmeo were out of business in their playing minutes and Hasiel Rivero also got into a foul problem and played only 8 minutes.
Maccabi knows that the game against Baskonia is critical for the rest of the season.
A victory over the Basques, who recorded a disappointing loss last night in Munich, and nine rounds to the end of the season, Maccabi will open a gap of two and a half games from the place that leaves them out of the play-in.
On the other hand, a loss, and the yellows can deteriorate to the 11th place, a long way from the playoffs.
Will history repeat itself against Baskonia?
Marcus Howard/GettyImages, ion Alcoba/Quality Sport Images
5.
In March, 14 years will pass since the last time Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid away.
Unless the Yellows get a surprising amount of wins by the end of the regular season, they should finish it in the play-in area.
The meaning of the play-in this season is that in the best case Maccabi will play against the team in second place in the table and in the slightly less good case, against the first Real (in the worst case scenario they will not enter the playoffs at all, obviously).
At this point in time, the yellows are not buying another meeting with Real this season.
"We believe that we can get more out of this season," said the club, "it is true that if we have another meeting with Real, it means that we are in the playoffs. But it also means that we got there through the play-in, and we are still at a point in the season where we believe we can do more ".
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