After maintaining a perfect record in the Premier League with a 90:95 victory in the derby over Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Tel Aviv wants to make a mark in the Euroleague as well. The Yellows are currently hosting Olympiakos at the beginning of a busy week when in two days Oded Ketch’s players will be hosted by Red Star Belgrade.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is aware of the importance of the game in view of the events of the last rounds in the Euroleague: the yellows count three consecutive losses in Europe – to Baskonia, Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade. In fact, Maccabi’s last victory in the Euroleague was at the expense of a Greek team – Panathinaikos with 74:85 about a month ago.
Maccabi Tel Aviv can draw encouragement from their home record in the EuroLeague – four wins and a loss – and as a team they are trying to improve it at the expense of the opponent they defeated 69:84 at the Hall last season. By the way, on Sunday another game awaits Maccabi, this time against Hapoel Jerusalem.
Olympiakos arrives at the hall with a 2:6 record in the Euroleague since the beginning of the season and after two consecutive victories, the last of which was 71:82 over Bayern Munich. Sasha Wezenkov stood out in that game with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
First quarter – 20:22 for Maccabi Tel Aviv
Five Maccabi Tel Aviv: Lorenzo Brown, Wade Baldwin, Darron Hillad, Roman Sorkin, and Alex Poythers.
Five Olympiakos: Thomas Wakp, Kostas Papanikolaou, Isaiah Khanan, Sascha Wezenkov and Mustafa Pal.
Papanicolaou was responsible for the game’s first points with a 3-pointer, but Baldwin answered with one of his own at the other end. After a run by the Reds, Brown found Hollins under the basket to narrow the score to 7:5. The Greeks continued to run and two accurate shots by Wakap from the line made it 9:15. After that, Maccabi started to run and Baldwin and Hollins scored from outside the arc and narrowed it to only one point, with DiBartolomeu also making a three-pointer of his own. Hollins continued to be the standout in the ranks of the Yellows and made a three-pointer that made it 20:20, after which Baldwin dunked twice from the line and gave the Yellows their first advantage at the end of the quarter.
Second quarter – 43:45 for Olympiakos
Peters opened the quarter with a 3-pointer that gave Olympiakos the lead back, but DiBartolomeu converted again with a half-distance jump shot. Petres once again excelled in the ranks of the Greeks and ended a great attack with a long shot, but Brown was sharp from the other end and gave Maccabi the advantage back. The three-point range continued with one by Kostas Sloukas in the Red Sadum, when Brown was accurate in the Yellows. Sloukas continued to be hot from outside the arc and another three-pointer made it 34:38 for the guest, when Shaquille McKissick added with a basket and a foul on the next attack. At this point Brown took on more for Maccabi, accurate again from outside the arc and giving the Yellows a two point lead. After many turnovers by Maccabi, Vezenkov dunked outside the arc and brought the Reds down to the half with a lead.
Third quarter – 63:69 for Olympiakos
Kanan shot from half distance and scored the first points of the quarter. After that, the points came to both teams mainly from the penalty line, until Kanan was again great over Maccabi’s defense and increased the difference to five. The yellows continued to struggle in defense and another three-pointer by Papanicolaou already caused Ketch to call a timeout after the difference grew to 10. Maccabi’s first field goal came after six and a half minutes when Divertolomeu shrunk to 56:50. When it looked like the Yellows were generating some kind of momentum, Pal found Wezenkov who finished with a three-pointer and a foul. After another 3-pointer in red, Sorkinam cut the lead to eight with an easy layup, with Martin cutting it to six on the next possession. The quarter ended with two 3-pointers by Gianoulis Larentzakis in red and Coulson in yellow with the buzzer, which brought the yellows down by six heading into the decisive quarter.
Fourth quarter:
Martin got the crowd excited at the start of the quarter with a three-pointer that narrowed the gap to just three. After quite a few fouls on both sides of the field, Brown penetrated nicely and accurately on the way to reduce the difference to only one point, when Martin Dyke from outside the arc restored the advantage to the Yellows. Larnzakis continued to be passionate in red and returned the advantage with a big three-pointer, but Brown did the same on the other side and made it 74:76 for Maccabi.