In the final minutes of yesterday's game in Vitoria, Maccabi did not fight for a victory against Basconia, all they did was try and lose by less than 8 points, as this is the point at which they won the first game.
But the attempt also failed, the buzzer sounded when the scoreboard was 82:92 in favor of the Spaniards and Maccabi Tel Aviv star Wade Baldwin went to attack the referee.
Although Baldwin was irresponsible and will probably receive a punishment as a result, it seems that the last seconds of this game symbolize well what is happening to Maccabi Tel Aviv in recent times.
Something bad is happening to her and it's probably beyond basketball.
The signs of the team's bad period are clearly visible, it is not only that the yellows played badly, the body language of the players is not positive and conveys great frustration and restlessness.
All these things together put Maccabi in a very problematic situation, and precisely at one of the most important points of the season, the team looks like a pressure cooker.
Wade Baldwin was there in the first half, but was alone in the campaign, not one of the Maccabi Tel Aviv players appeared next to him.
Above all stands out the crisis in which Lorenzo Brown is, who was supposed to be one of the leaders of the team and is in his most difficult period since he arrived at the club.
This was probably Maccabi's weakest game of the season.
Especially when you look at the depth differences between the teams.
Basconia was very lacking, and it is a team that, even on a normal day, does not have a particularly long bench.
Yesterday, Duško Ivanovic had only two tall players at his disposal, Mike Kutzer and Cima Monka, and both of them had to play almost 37 minutes each.
A classic situation for Maccabi to take advantage of the healthy air and travel in the fields.
But in practice she did not gain any advantage from this point.
Monka, on the other hand, took advantage of this for a season high in rebounds with 15 such.
Brown.
Disappeared, photo: Baskonia
Oded Ketch's students scored their points in the second half almost exclusively from offensive rebounds, beyond that there was nothing offensive.
On the defensive side, we saw big mistakes that culminated in the second quarter, there is no movie where it is acceptable to get 34 points in one quarter, there is no movie where it makes sense for Asconia to miss only one ball in the second quarter and Marcus Howard to score 20 points in the half when he didn't top five at all.
It seemed that Basconia was also surprised at how easy it was for her.
At the end of a gloomy evening, and at the end of the two games of the week, the devaluation of the status of the yellows continued with 4 losses in the last 5 games.
This is the first time this season that Maccabi has lost twice in a double week.
Another sign of the big retreat and the complication that is becoming more and more in the fight for the playoffs.
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Marcus Howard, came off the bench, photo: Baskonia
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