The opponent suffered from a very lacking staff, probably also fatigue – but for Maccabi Tel Aviv it is certainly not interesting, nor should it be. The Yellows (this time in blue) recovered tonight (Thursday) from the surprising home loss to Zenit St Petersburg with an easy victory in Germany, 73:85 over Alba Berlin, in the 18th round of the Euroleague.
Scored for Maccabi Tel Aviv: Dorsey (5 of 7 for three) 25 points, Cloiaro 16, Bender 13, Wilbkin and Žižić 8 each, Jones 7, Bryant 5, Caspi 3. Stood out in Alba: Ponticio 15, Granger 13 and 11 assists.
No fewer than four senior players (Peyton Reason, Nils Gippy, Marcus Erickson and Luke Sikma) were missing from Alba Berlin’s squad due to injuries. Beyond that, the Germans also played just two days ago against Basconia, in what was a rematch from the fifth round of the Euroleague. Maccabi Tel Aviv, well, knew how to make good use of the advantages – and in fact closed interest in the first half.
It took Yannis Sapropoulos’ team some time to get into the rhythm (15:10 left in the first quarter), but once that happened – she left no chance to the opponent. A 2:19 run, which began at the end of the first quarter and continued into the second quarter, set up a very promising gap for the Israeli champion, which she did not actually drop until the end. Alba did manage to reduce to minus 9 at the beginning of the third quarter, but no more than that, and it seems that if Maccabi had pressed the gas a little more – it would also have finished with a significantly larger advantage.
Tyler Dorsey shone above them all. The guard, whose contribution to Maccabi’s game depends almost exclusively on his shooting ability, this time stood on the good side and sniped 5 threes out of 7 attempts on the way to 25 points. Angelo Cloiaro (16) and Dragan Bender (13) were the other players to score in double digits, while Scotty Wilbkin, who is usually the main executioner, settled for 8 points this time.
Bottom line, this was Maccabi’s eighth victory this season (against ten losses) in the senior European factory – and perhaps the most requested of them all. A loss to Alba Berlin’s so lacking squad would have put Sapropolos and his players in a very problematic position in the race to enter the top eight. The race will continue this coming Tuesday at the Yad Eliyahu Hall, so the Yellows will host Olympiacos. Two days later they will be waiting at home in Basconia. While Israeli sports are almost completely halted following the closure, Maccabi Tel Aviv does not have time to rest – and concentration should be at its peak for a particularly important week.
the progress of the game
Yannis Sapropoulos surprised when he chose to place Omri Caspi in the top five. Alongside him came Scotty Wilbkin, Elijah Bryant, Angelo Cloiaro and Ante Žižić.
The first quarter was conducted mostly lazily and without a clear narrative, with no team really being able to get into the rhythm and dictate its will to the opponent. However, within the last minute, Maccabi Tel Aviv shot three times in a row outside the arc (Dorsey, Bender, Jones on the buzzer), which gave it a mini-escape and a 17:24 advantage after 10 minutes of basketball.
Maccabi opened the second quarter with a storm. She scored 10 unanswered points and climbed to a very promising lead, 17:34. The Yellows’ control (this time in blue) continued and the advantage had already grown to 21 points (22:43). At this point, Alba went out for her own modest run – of 0: 6 – and managed to minimize some damage. 28:43 to Maccabi Tel Aviv at the break. Cloiaro led Maccabi’s goals in the first half with 10 points.
The second half opened with a three by Caspi in the first attack, but from there Alba created positive momentum that helped her narrow the gap to just 9 (48:39). However, more than that the host could not achieve. The guest recovered, mostly thanks to Dorsey and Bender, and ran away once more. 49:63 to Maccabi at the end of the third quarter. The final quarter was mostly about one long garbage time. Dorsey continued to maintain personal statistics and reached 5 threes and 25 points total. At the end: 73:85 Easy for Maccabi Tel Aviv, which is back on the winning track in the Euroleague.
