The closer it was, the greater the sense of loss. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s European season ended tonight (Tuesday) with a particularly painful 72:81 loss in game five of the series against Panathinaikos. Despite the loss, all the compliments go to Oded Ketch for a wonderful season.
The fact that Maccabi even reached the point where it is within touching distance of the Final Four, in a season in which it is without a home field and hosts games in Belgrade, is impressive in itself. If you add to that the injury of Wade Baldwin, Maccabi’s big star, who had to manage without him in the series, you have to stand and cheer for the group in yellow.
At the start of the game, it seemed that Lorenzo Brown was taking all the responsibility when, together with John DiBartolomeu, he led the yellows to a great offensive opening, but the Greeks led by Kostas Sloukas remained close and the quarter ended with only two points in favor of the yellows.
Brown: “Baldwin, Coulson and I are staying”
The game continued to be close in the second quarter as well, which ended 41:41. In the third quarter, the Yellows were stopped on the offensive side, but thanks to quite a few fouls from the penalty line, mainly by Matthias Lasort, they managed to stay close and fell behind by only two at the break between the quarters.
But here Maccabi’s power began to wane and Wade Baldwin’s disadvantage was more evident than ever. The yellows didn’t know how to score for many minutes and Panathinaikes ran away to a double-digit lead, when a few borderline whistles from the referees also helped her and hence Maccabi no longer had any answers.
This is the second year in a row that Oded Ketch’s team loses the decisive game and fails to break the statistic that says that foreign teams have never won in game five. The yellows will now concentrate on the local arena, where they are in first place in the league and in the semi-finals of the state cup.
Scored for Maccabi Tel Aviv: Lorenzo Brown 19 points, Josh Niebo 14 points, John DiBartholomew and Tamir Blatt 9 points 21, Hasiel Rivero 8 points, Jake Cohen and Bonzie Colson 4 points, James Webb 3 points and Antonios Cleveland 2 points.
Scored for Panathinaikos: Kendrick Nan 26 points, Kostas Sloukas 15 points, Juancho Hernangomez 11 points, Ioannis Papapetrou 10 points, Mathias Lasort 9 points, Jerian Grant and Konstantinos Mitoglou 3 points, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Pangiotis Klaitsakis 2 points 21.
First quarter – 19:21 for Maccabi Tel Aviv
Five Maccabi Tel Aviv: Lonerzo Brown, John DiBartholomew, Bonzie Coulson, Jake Cohen and Josh Niebo.
Panathinaikos Quintet: Kostas Sloukas, Kendrick Nunn, Yannis Papapetrou, Constantions Mitoglu and Mathias Lasort.
The first points came from the Greek side when Mathias Lessort scored after an offensive rebound, Cohen responded immediately at the other end and put the yellows on the board for the first time. DiBartolomeu hit the first three-pointer in the game and Lorenzo with the first points gave Maccabi a five-point lead. Papapetrou took advantage of some easy fouls to cut the gap back to one, but Brown, who completely controlled the pace of the opening game, answered immediately with three consecutive assists, two to Niebo and one more to Cohen.
At this point the Greeks heated up the handle and scored twice from outside the arc, DiBartholomou answered with his second three-pointer of the game. The game became aggressive and both teams often got to the line, with Pau’s steal of the ball leading to Slokas’ points in a burst. The Greek guard missed a three-pointer with the buzzer of the first quarter, which Maccabi finished with a 19:21 advantage.
Lorenzo Brown (Giannis Dimitropoulos / Tourette Photography)
Second quarter – 41:41
Kendrick Nan and Tamir Blatt exchanged 3-pointers at the start of the second quarter. The Israeli guard added an assist to Nivo and Ribeiro with a basket from an offensive rebound put Maccabi up by four. Atman halted the mini-momentum in a timeout. Maccabi’s bench received a technical foul and the Greeks took advantage of this to narrow the gap. Nebo provided a tremendous block in defense, but the ball reached Nan who gave Pau the lead. Brown took responsibility and scored with a jump shot from half distance, but Slokas warmed up, made a three-pointer and this time it was Ketch’s turn to call a timeout.
The high pace continued as the advantage went from side to side. Antonios Cleveland rose up for a tremendous dunk, the ball splashed into the sky from the ring and went into a particularly bizarre basket. James Webb’s three-pointer and Rivero’s points put Ketch’s team ahead by five, Pau answered immediately and with another three-pointer after an offensive rebound tied it back. Rivero and Papapatro exchanged points, Nan missed an easy shot at the buzzer and the first half ended with a tremendous 41:41.
Josh Niebo (Giannis Dimitropoulos / Tourette Photography)
Third quarter – 56:58 to Panathinaikos
Both teams struggled to produce points at the start of the second half when, after three minutes in which only Brown and Papatro scored, Bonzie Colson hit a 3-pointer that was his first field goal of the game. Cohen committed an unsportsmanlike foul on Lasort who missed twice from the line, but Nan made a three-pointer that tied the score. Maccabi lost twice, Sloukas scored a three-pointer from the corner and Dibartolomeu returned with one of his own. Cohen committed his fourth foul and had to leave the field.
Both teams continued to struggle in the next few minutes, before Nivbo scored four straight. Juancho Hernangomez came off the bench and scored a 3-pointer and the lead shifted from side to side as Nan scored twice from the line and Blatt responded with a 3-pointer. The closing of the quarter belonged to Panathinaikos when Kostas Antetokounmpo scored from the line and put them in the lead 56:58 and Colson missed a three-pointer with the buzzer on the way to one quarter for the whole pot.
Fourth quarter – 72:81 for Panathinaikos
Maccabi started the last quarter in a terrible way with three turnovers in less than a minute. Ketch responded quickly by bringing on Dibarthlomeu, but the Yellows failed to produce a single point in the first three minutes of the quarter and Pau took advantage of this to increase the margin to eight. Brown finally scored, but the referees, with some controversial whistles including a technical to encourage Ketch, helped Pau extend the lead to double digits.
Blatt hit a 3-pointer, Nan answered with a personal fifth 3-pointer of the game. Brown woke up and made two three-pointers, but Maccabi just couldn’t make any stops. Lasort scored four straight, the lead became double digits and the game went one way. The yellows failed to generate momentum in the last minutes and in the end 72:81 to Panathinaikos who qualifies for the Final Four. Ketch remains with all the accolades, but for the second time loses in game five of the quarterfinals.