character
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s victory yesterday (Tuesday) 87:91 over Panathinaikos was not only their biggest of the season, but one of their biggest in the last decade. no less. In front of over 18,500 Greek fans in Ouaka, in money time of the season, she excelled and is ahead 0:1 in the quarter-final series. “I am very proud of the players,” said Oded Ketch. “After a first half where we struggled and changed lineups, in the second half we showed great character. To win here, in this atmosphere, is special, but in the end it’s just the first game.”
Indeed, in the first half it seemed that the game was going in the Greek direction. Panathinaikos players were the ones who dictated the pace and even found themselves with a double digit advantage. But a tremendous last quarter of 17:28 by the Yellows, most of it without Wade Baldwin, arranged a huge victory in a hall that is very difficult to win in. “I enjoyed the atmosphere,” said one of the heroes of the evening, Bonzie Coulson. “This season we miss the crowd and we feed off the energy that comes from the stands. We know that we didn’t start well, but we stuck to our game plan and were focused on ourselves. Now we have to continue to be better.”
Maccabi, as in many cases this season, did not break. She won the fight for the rebounds (15 only in the attack) and in the decisive moves, an experienced player like Kostas Sloukas made a mistake, the players in yellow took advantage of it and Josh Niebo, coolly, closed a huge evening with two penalty shots in a cool way. “I believe in the team, we came into the fourth quarter sharp,” said the center who finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds. “We all played together, we fought to get this victory, it was a big game.”
BC
Maccabi Tel Aviv has quite a few standouts this evening. Nivo, as mentioned, won the game from the line; Antonius Cleveland was responsible for the crucial kidnapping; Tamir Blatt filled well the hole left by Bolodvin (see separate news) in the deciding minutes, including a huge assist to Nivo; Hasiel Rivero produced another solid game of 9 minutes and finished with a +15 in the plus/minus index; But above all yesterday there were two, Coulson and Lorenzo Brown.
Bonzi finished the first half with only 5 points, and in general did not really take an active part in the yellow offensive game. But in the second half, and in the fourth quarter in particular, it was Colson that Maccabi was waiting to see, the player who became one of the best forwards in Europe this season. He nailed two clutch 3-pointers in the last quarter, produced points with his typical post-up moves, and was largely responsible for this victory. “We all made big moves, and I think we can still play better,” he quipped, refusing to celebrate: “It’s still only 0:1, now we’ll see a video, we’ll try to get another win on Thursday.”
The second is Brown, the player who undoubtedly received the most criticism during the season, especially throughout the second round of the Euroleague. He also had some bad minutes yesterday, which included losing to Slokas, a hesitant entry to the basket and a bad defensive position – but Ketch continued to believe in him and kept him on the field. And the dividend arrived – in the form of 16 points, including the important basket of the game, which raised the score to 87:89. Now that the injuries are behind him and after he became a father this weekend – it seems that Maccabi Tel Aviv is getting last season’s Lorenzo Brown. Just in time.
Lorenzo Brown. Arrived in a big way (GETTY) Bonzie Coulson starred (GETTY)
the director of the show
It’s not that anyone needed any proof, but Oded Ketch has become one of the best coaches in Europe this season. Maccabi plays excellent and methodical basketball, wins heaps and overcomes endless difficulties – and is now two wins away from the Final Four, playing an entire season away from home. True, great credit is due to the players who deal with the situation and to the management that enables the conduct within this complex situation, but Ketch is the leader. And he is the one who is more responsible than anyone else for the fact that Maccabi Tel Aviv has come this far.
“It is special for Maccabi Tel Aviv to reach the playoffs for the second season in a row, but in this situation it is even more special,” he said. “The situation in Israel has been crazy since October 7th, but we are trying to do what we can and make the people of Israel happy. We have been through a lot this season, so hopefully things will change quickly for the people, for the country, we want peace. Our goal is ultimately to concentrate on basketball , and this is what we will try to do in the next 48 hours.”
The issue of Ketch’s contract, naturally, is constantly up in the air. Maccabi wants to see the coach continue next season as well – talks have been going on for some time – but the financial uncertainty makes it difficult for the management to even come close to closing. What’s more, in light of the success this season, Ketch is expected to demand a higher salary than he earned in the previous two years, a matter that will make it even more difficult for Maccabi.
Wade Baldwin. Concern about his condition (GETTY) Oded Ketch. show manager (GETTY)
Memories of Monaco
Even last season, Maccabi Tel Aviv reached the playoffs without a home advantage, winning the first game in Monaco – but surrendering after five games. However, the difference this season, is that this team – its core, surely – is already more experienced. “It’s only one win, we didn’t win the series” , Nibo said. “We also won the first game last year and we remember how it ended. It’s great that we won this game, but we mustn’t get too excited, we still have a long series ahead of us. For match 2 we will have to recover the body and be ready physically and mentally.”
Ketch also referred to the lessons from Monaco: “It’s a very similar situation to last season. The difference is that then we were built almost from scratch, with many players that were their first opportunity. Most of the players were without much experience and I want to believe that today we are in a different mental state and that we learned something from last season. I I want to believe that a team that has experienced these experiences has learned to do things better. Unlike last year, we are not returning to two games at home in Tel Aviv, and we will have to deal with that as well. As cliché as it sounds, we have to take it game by game “.
This is the second time this season that Maccabi Tel Aviv has won in Ouaka, and the balance between the teams is 0:3 one-sided in favor of Ketch in the matchup against Argin Ataman. In the two games of the regular season, Maccabi caught Pau less well – once without Kendrick Nan and the second time without Slokas And Lucas Valdosa – so yesterday the yellows won without any caveats or asterisks. But in spite of everything, probably in light of the memory of last season, “There is excitement, but there is no over-enthusiasm,” Ketch concluded , in a place that is not easy to play in, but we still have a lot of things to improve and there is a lot of work to do until game 2.”