2024-04-12 20:30:22
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s opponent in the play-in phase of the Euroleague has been determined. Oded Ketch’s yellows, who finished seventh in the table, will face Baskonia this Tuesday for the right to play in the playoffs against Panathinaikos, who finished second.
Basconia tonight (Friday) beat Bologna 91:95 in a game of being or not for them and managed to secure the eighth place in the direct fight against the rival from Italy, with the victory being their second in a row after a streak of three losses.
The team from the Basque Country started the game poorly and went into the break trailing by nine points, but towards the end of the third quarter it simply exploded, achieved a turnaround with a wonderful 21:31 in the third quarter and went on to its most valuable victory of the season while enjoying 34 points from Marcus Howard Shelat in money time The Italians didn’t show up in the second half en route to their seventh consecutive EuroLeague loss, and their slump continued (anyone remember the surprising season opener?).
Why should you meet Baskonia?
Because she is less deep in the front line to begin with. Naturally, there are more advantages that the national champion can take advantage of. Unlike the Italians, the Basques are lacking in experience with the exception of Cima Monca who made the Final Four last year with Monaco. Similar to Banki’s team, Ivanovic’s team, who actually opened the season at Red Star Belgrade, has a third away record, although better than Bologna’s, 7:9.
The Basques have quite a bit of firepower that makes them particularly dangerous, certainly with Cody Miller McIntyre and Marcus Howard leading the EuroLeague in his average amount of points for the evening. Baskonia has no “names” that shine, with the exception of Howard who is in his second season overall in the Euroleague.
Antonios Cleveland tries to stop the Basques (courtesy of Basconia)
Since January, Monca has reached an efficiency index of over 25 only once, McIntyre himself has lost 4.4 balls in his last five games in which he posted an efficiency index of 8.8, and there is not one player who is simply unstoppable, assuming that Howard does not get involved and Tadas Sedkarskis is on a downward trend in the last few games.
Why shouldn’t you meet Basconia?
Because when the pills go in the evening becomes extra long. Havard is nothing less than a real nightmare and Maccabi Tel Aviv has already felt the comfort of his arm or the mechanism of his shot (actually his shooting) beyond the arc. This is a team that on the eve of the 34th round won one game in the last four. It is true that the opponent was Real Madrid, but the bad period of Baskonia can actually play more in its favor just as it can play in Bologna’s favor. However, for the meeting against Oded Ketch’s team, one of the two will come after a victory in the Euroleague and the bottom line is that at this stage and when so much is at stake, it is not certain that there is such a thing as a superior opponent.
Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown guard (courtesy Basconia)
In the end, any team can beat any team and the fact that a loss can send any of them up to 10th place proves how unstable they are in the last stretch of the season. Both, Virtus and Baskonia, have done their part this season in one way or another, and everything they achieve beyond that can be a bonus, and Maccabi? She hopes to close the matter on Tuesday for two reasons, the first is that playing on Friday means at most a playoff series against Real Madrid in the best scenario, and in the worst case relegation is also on the cards, surely and surely when Anadolu Efes, who is in a simply great period and stepped out of the play-in and into the meeting for 9th places -10 She comes in as a favorite for all the right reasons and when it comes to the issue of matchup and experience and balance she is a huge challenge especially against any possible opponent, even in a potential playoff series against the reigning Euroleague champion.
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