Summary clip of the week, 29.2/Sport1
1. Maccabi Tel Aviv returned last night (Thursday) in an impressive way to the last part of the season in the Euroleague when it defeated Alba Berlin 71:106 in the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
The yellows returned to a positive balance thanks to the victory of 14 wins against 13 losses, and returned to believing in their ability to enter the playoffs at the end of the season.
Oded Ketch's team, without the injured Roman Sorkin, attacked the weak Elba from the start of the game, ran away to a 15:27 lead after a quarter and at halftime already led by 19 points, mainly thanks to the great ability of Bonzie Coulson and James Webb.
In the second half, the gap only increased and grew, as it approached the 40 difference and could reach historic regions, when in the end it stopped at the 35 difference, a club record for an away win in the Euroleague.
Webb led five scorers in double figures for the Yellows with 17 points, with Wade Baldwin adding 16 points and leading the Maccabi players in the index with 16. Ten players scored for the Yellows, with Maccabi finishing a not amazing night from outside the arc with 9 three-pointers at 36 percent, but with 33 from - Impressive 40 for 2 points and 29 assists against only 9 turnovers.
"We know what's ahead of us, we came into March from 10th place, and we need a good March to enter the playoffs from a good place," said Baldwin at the end of the game, "we are one of the better offensive teams in the league, our problem was in defense, if we continue that in the seven games The last of the season, we will be in good shape."
James Webb, who as mentioned excelled, added: "Before the game we concentrated on playing the best we can. We are in the last run of the season, we have to give everything we have, we executed the game plan well. Everyone was focused on defense, we also had drops, but we played Good team defense. We had a difficult evening in rebounding, but in general we did a good job. We can take confidence from tonight, but we know that Zalgiris in the next game will be a tough game, they played well before the break, we will have to be good defensively and offensively."
"You have to give everything you have."
Web/official website, Elad Goldstein, Maccabi Tel Aviv
2. Maccabi Tel Aviv came into last night's game with a streak of three Euroleague losses, something that should have affected the team's confidence, but the fact that they did not play for three weeks in the factory brought them both charged to return to the winning track and with confidence after a good series of league games, Including big wins in the derby and Hapoel Jerusalem.
"Most of the teams reached this round of the Euroleague without playing a single game in the last two weeks, and few of them won trophies in the cup week that came before the national teams, we are among the teams that reached this point with the better momentum," said one of the Maccabi people last night, "the most important thing we showed in this game was the spirit We assume that we would have beaten Elba one way or another, the differences in levels are big, but the road, the dominance that we haven't shown in many games this season, is a very important thing for the decisive part of the season."
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3. The victory over Elba was the first in a series of five comfortable games for the Yellows on paper.
In the following weeks in the Euroleague, Maccabi will meet Zalgiris Kovna in a home game in Belgrade, Red Star Belgrade in a difficult game in Stark Arena, another home game in the Euroleague against Villerban and finish against Bayern Munich away.
What all these teams have in common is the fact that they lost a realistic chance to enter the playoffs, and if they haven't lost the chance yet, by the time the game against the Yellows is over, it should be over.
"On paper, we are in the more comfortable series of games. Apart from the game against Barcelona, a round to end, we do not meet any of the biggest teams of the Euroleague," said the club even before the game against Alba, "we know that if we do our job, we will enter at least from a high place in the play-in. It still seems early, but it is possible with a good run to take the sixth place and enter directly into the playoffs."
Last season Maccabi Tel Aviv managed to win six out of seven games on the way to the playoffs in March, which they entered at the end of the victory over Elba.
Also in the 2021/22 season, the Yellows finished a great March with five wins in six games.
Very convenient schedule. Catch/Danny Maron
4. The one who, as mentioned, was not on the floor last night was Roman Sorkin.
The center, who was injured in the Israeli team's victory over Portugal, has begun his recovery process from the knee ligament injury, with the club hoping that he will be able to return to activity before the end of March, and will be able to contribute in the final games of the regular season.
Maccabi said in the days before the game against Elba that they would have to know how to manage without the advantage that Sorkin brings to them on the floor, and the possibility of playing with two tall men, when the game in Berlin was not a real standard since the yellows scored excellent shooting percentages for 2 points, and still took only 7 rebounds in the attack against A very weak defensive rebound team.
The club realized that in the near future they will have some more serious tests in this area, and there they will have to know how to cover the lack of the Israeli center.
His friends managed without him.
Sorkin/Udi Citiat
5. On the other side of Maccabi Tel Aviv's great evening was Elba Berlin who continues her very weak season.
Under Israel Gonzalez Alba has become the weakest team in the Euroleague in recent years along with Villerban, and last night's weak performance was another example of the lack of competitiveness it displays.
In the days when the management of the factory is considering changes, what continues to stand up to Elba's credit is the market it represents, but as far as basketball is concerned, the project is not taking off and even at the level of the German league, the team is tailing not only Bayern Munich, but this season also other teams.
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