Live Report – Quarter 4: Maccabi Tel Aviv

Winner League Basket 20-21

Moshe Barda 02/02/2021 21:15

Elijah Bryant on the way to the basket (Itzik Belnitsky)

Maccabi Tel Aviv, which was supposed to be in final preparations for the Euroleague game against Moscow Khimki at this stage, is currently meeting Maccabi Haifa for a game in the 12th round of the Winner Basket League, after the postponement of the meeting against the Russians due to the closure of the skies in Israel.

The Yellows are taking advantage of the postponement of the two Euroleague games against Himki and Andulo Zero to complete games in the local arena. Tonight they open five very busy days that include three games – on Friday they will meet Hapoel Beer Sheva in the 13th round and on Sunday they will host Maccabi Rishon Lezion.

On the other hand, Daniel Savannah’s team wants to produce a big surprise that will also give them a lot of confidence to continue, or at least not get defeated off the floor, as happened to them in the previous league game against Hapoel Jerusalem, at the end they absorbed 75:94.

First quarter – 13:35 to Maccabi Tel Aviv

Maccabi Tel Aviv opened with: Scotty Wilbkin, Yuval Sussman, Oz Blazer, Angelo Cloiaro and Ante Zizic. Maccabi Haifa started with: Naor Sharon, Dontae Smith, Rigoberto Mendoza, Roman Sorkin and Michael Covins.

Sussman vs. Naor Sharon (Itzik Blanitzky)

Maccabi Haifa started well with 1: 4, but threes by Wilbkin and Cloiaro raised the Yellows to 6: 9 and Savannah took an early timeout after less than 3 minutes. After the return from the timeout, Cubins, the only one who functions in the opening, raised his balance to 6 points, but Blair’s beautiful Eli-Hop from Wilbkin’s pass raised the Yellows to 8:13. Wilbkin’s three and another Blazer easy basket after a loss raised to 10:18 and then a three by Cloiaro and another of his lay-ups raised to 11:23 and Savannah took another timeout. The trend continued, a three by Dibertolomao raised to 11:29 minutes to the end of the quarter and it looked bad for the Greens. Dori Sahar also came in and scored the first point from the line and the gap is already 19 points. Another three by Bryant, the Yellows’ third, set up the quarter-final result – a crushing 13:35, after a 3:22 run.

Wilbkin rises to three (Itzik Belnitsky)

Second quarter – 26:53 to Maccabi Tel Aviv

At the beginning of the second quarter the Yellows got stuck a bit and it took them two and a half minutes to score the first basket, but on the other hand the Greens scored only one point in the same period and the teams went down to a timeout after 4 minutes with 16:39 on the board. After five and a half minutes a three by Cloiaro, his third, raised to 16:42 and then another loss by the Greens, their 12th. After an exchange of baskets, Albert’s three set a time of 18:47. The Greens managed to shrink to 25 points, 49:24, but baskets by Zizic and Bender against one by Sharon set 26:53 in the half.

Angelo Cloiaro rises to the basket (Itzik Blanitzky)

Third quarter – 40:71 to Maccabi Tel Aviv

Also at the start of the third quarter, the Yellows were stuck without points for more than two minutes, until a dunk and a foul by Žižić raised to 28:56. Three minutes and a bit into the quarter Dontae Smith scored the Greens’ first three-pointer of the game. But Blazer and Dibertolomao sniped threes on the other side, Blazer raised from the line to 30 points, 5 minutes into the quarter and later the gap climbed to 33 – 38:71. Until the break to the break before the last quarter the Greens scored one more basket.

Fourth quarter

At the start of the last quarter, the Yellows raised Idan Alber, Jonathan Atias and Dori Sahar, but the gap still swelled and reached 37 points, 41:78, before the teams went down to a timeout of 6 and a half minutes to go.