Tiktukno, 15.3/Sport1
Five rounds to the end of the regular season in the Euroleague, Maccabi Tel Aviv is indeed ranked in ninth place, which in the best case will lead to an intersection with the formidable Real Madrid in the playoffs - but is also in a good starting position to finish in 7-8 places, with a small chance of screwing up even in sixth place which leads directly to the quarterfinals.
Naturally, most of the credit goes to Wade Baldwin, who leads the team and also starred in the important victory over Red Star last Thursday, but in Europe Oded Ketch is also praised, and convinced that he has a part in the results.
"Kets is in a good place. He's doing a great job, this is his team, it plays the way he wants," they analyzed in the podcast of the European basketball magazine "Basketnews".
"Maccabi Tel Aviv is a fun team, it's fun to watch their attack. Not only thanks to Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown, but because they have very nice offensive sets, a lot of movement. They play the fastest in the Euroleague, and their basketball is different from a lot of teams."
gets credit
Catch/official site, Dragana Stjepanovic
On the other hand, they warned in the podcast about the "catastrophic defense" of the yellows.
"Their defense is a bit like the defense of an NBA team. They go for a lot of steals, a lot of deflections, and that only suits some players. Bonzie Colson, for example, is great at that."
In "Basketnews" they also gave credit to Ketch for the victory in the last round against Zalgiris.
"Kets was brave enough to trust his second five when his key players weren't at their best. Tamir Blatt, John DiBartholomew, Hasiel Rivero - they all played long minutes and helped Maccabi come back from a big deficit. This was another proof that this coach knows what he's doing." .
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Oded Ketch