Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Olympiacos tonight (Tuesday, 21:05, live on 5 SPORT) after achieving three victories in the last four Euroleague games. The Yellows, who lost at the end of a dramatic game to the Greeks in the previous round, will try to get revenge and improve their position in the battle for the top 8.
the coach Yannis Sapropoulos Referred to the opponent: “We are playing another important game, and in the second round, every game is more important than the previous one. We are against a team that is very well built, with experienced players, athletic. We have to face everyone and be able to save everyone “Their highs scored a lot against us in the first game and therefore need to be focused as a team and not as individuals. It is important to control the pace of the game, read their moves, and find the best way to attack.”
Professionally, the one in doubt for the game is Othello Hunter who has not trained all week. At the moment the high probability is that he will be absent from the game. Also, Sandy Cohen who was found to be positive for the corona virus will be missing from the Greek coach.
Judging by past cases, this game too may go to the final minutes, just like the previous encounter in Piraeus. In recent years almost every visit of the Greeks to the hall is decided in the closing seconds: in the 12/13 season Vasilis Spanoulis set up a winning basket with a score of 78:77, on 17/18 Norris Cole missed the buzzer (69:68), a year later Scotty Wilbkin stitched a winning basket Printzis missed on the buzzer (65:64). Last season Wilbkin again with a three-pointer (71:70).
In general, eight of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 11 home games against Olympiacos in the current format of the Euroleague were decided by a difference of 6 points or less and only two of them by a double-digit margin (average gap: 5.2 points).
– Maccabi Tel Aviv BC (@MaccabitlvBC) January 12, 2021
