I admit, I was wrong about Oded Ketch. I was one of the first critics of Maccabi when it signed the coach in the summer and one of his biggest critics throughout the season, but I was very wrong. Ketch believed in his way from the first moment, even when it didn’t look good he stuck to it and now he is reaping the fruits. It must be said, there were quite a few mistakes by the coach that also caused frustrating losses more than once, but in a long basketball season, Ketch, like the entire team, went through a process of learning and is reaching the last line at its peak.
And after I apologized to Ketch, you can say: believe in the way. Bottom line, and despite the loss in Kovna, Maccabi secured a third playoff in four seasons, even if once it did not play because the season was stopped and another time it was humiliated against Real Madrid, this is part of the process that the club goes through on the way up. When you win it is easier to fix and Maccabi has a lot to fix after many years in which it was not relevant, it needs to take care of continuity and keep believing, because the results will come.
When I talk about continuity, of course I mean first of all Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown. The latter is already locked in the team for the next few years, the second will be officially locked soon and they will be joined by Bonzie Coulson. The best back line in the factory (proven by numbers) was responsible for the most impressive run we have seen from Maccabi since the beginning of the 2019/20 season, before the injuries to Omri Caspi and Nate Walters and if he leads it to the Final Four their names will be engraved in a place of honor in the history books.
The most important thing in my eyes in recent times is the improvement of the forward line, which has been Maccabi’s Achilles heel more than once this season. Once Jarel Martin, Josh Nieveau, Roman Sorkin and Jake Cohen provide numbers the team becomes an almost unstoppable force. Martin scores exactly when needed, Cohen, who was already completely wiped out, made his way to the top five and Nivo experienced a real renaissance. We know what we will get from the back line, but Cohen and Martin will be game changers once they score and don’t allow double teams on the guards.
Next week Maccabi will return to the hall and host Real Madrid for a match that will determine who the opponent will be in the next stage. We will not get into the calculations of who is better at the moment, in the playoffs all the opponents raise the level and each hall will be very difficult. Maccabi is still not an away team to be proud of and will still have to find a way to win at least once to reach the Final Four, despite the great run in the last month and the battle in Kovna, Maccabi will have to show greater character, so as not to fall apart in moments of crisis like in the playoff series last season.
The text is an opinion column