Maccabi Tel Aviv’s game against Panathinaikos tonight (21:15, 5PLUS) is a rare opportunity for the champion to generate significant momentum in the Euroleague for the first time: out of the next nine games, seven games will take place in the arena, and the Yellows want to take the first step on guarding the house. A win in all seven games will bounce Maccabi to a positive balance of at least 11:13, a balance that will already put them in a good starting point in the battle to secure a place in the playoffs.
Wilbkin: The negative barometer
Logic says that Maccabi needs Scotty Wilbkin well for the whole team to be good. But the data so far this season show the complete opposite: in losses, Wilbkin stands out with 20.9 points per game, while in victories Maccabi receives almost half of his output from him – only 10.8 points. This means, as absurd as it may sound, that when Wilbkin scores – Maccabi loses, and when Maccabi wins – Wilbkin scores less.
If we look at the rest of the scorers on the continent, we will find that the phenomenon is reversed. Mike James, Jordan Lloyd, Nikola Mirotic and Alexei Sheved – all score more victories than losses. Maccabi Tel Aviv’s balance sheet this season with Wilbkin finishing as the leading scorer is a lone victory compared to 8 losses. When another player stood alone at the top of the scoring list, the Yellows won five out of six games.
Bender: Will the recovery continue?
Since the start of the season, Dragon Bender has won very few grace days. Both the media and the fans, at least in the networks, did not feel sorry for the criticism, and there were games where the Croatian forward did more harm than good. But in the last week Bender is starting to show positive signs: in the last two games he scored 13 points per game, with 75% for 2 and 40% for 3, compared to the previous two games, where he lost his head completely with a single point per game, 17 % To 2, three ball losses and a negative index of 3.5.
“It all depends on how we get out of the first minute,” he explains Bender The change, ‘In Barcelona we were aggressive from the first second and so was everyone who came off the bench. The same is true for me – when I am aggressive I manage to create more situations for myself and others, and I have been able to do that in the last two games. We now have a streak of home games, but it is very important that we take it game-by-game and not look at it as seven games to win. ‘
Zizic and Hunter: Good only separately
Compared to his teammate, Ante Žižić is experiencing a setback in his ability. Until the last five games, the chin averaged 10.7 points, 60.3% for 2 and added 6.6 rebounds on a total of 13.5, but in the last 5 rounds has shown weakness with 3.2 points, only 35% from the field 3.2 rebounds and an index of only 3. In the last two games, Žižić has scored only 4 points in total, and the poor ability has not gone unnoticed by Sapropoulos, who against Barcelona, for the first time this season, chose not to start with him in the top five.
What’s more interesting is that Žižić’s ability is affected, albeit indirectly, by the ability of his frontline partner Othello Hunter. When the old chin was weak, Žižić stood out, and now that the Croatian is in a bad period – Hunter is flourishing. Until the last five games, Hunter was anemic with 7 points per game and 45% from the field, and an index of 8.2. In the last five he rises with 11.4 points, 58.5% from the field, and an almost double index of 15.8. Can Maccabi enter a period when both bigmen will be good?
* Data courtesy of Uri Savir
