Day 22 Euroleague: Maccabi Tel Aviv - Baskonia

* So the clock saved Maccabi Tel Aviv from itself. The israeli team lost (again) the last quarter, threw away (again) a promising lead and had (again) a total collapse in the last minutes. Why does it happen to them time after time? The first, immidiate answer is mentality. Mentaly, this season's Maccabi is a very fragile team. But there is more to it. With no dominant playmaker who can call plays, Tel Aviv is being left with players like Goudelock or Miller. It forces Maccabi to rely mainly on individual talent, on a game played rather by instincts than by a plan. In the money time, such a desicion making can be fatally wrong. 1:30 minutes to the end Goudelock took the ball to the rim in an act of spontaniuos creativity. Baskonia's defence jumped on him, and he passed to Mekel who stood free in the corner. Is a three shot from Mekel - one of Maccabi's worst shooters - is the play the israeli team wants to make in the most crucial posession of the game? Probably not. And the missed shot led to a basque fast break, which ended with a three. The last posession of Maccabi was Goudelock taking a shot while falling against four green players.

* And more to Maccabi's offence - they went just 12 time to the line. That because of their unintellignet game. In the second quarter, for some minutes, Maccabi played with Alexander as a center against a basque line up which included Voigtmann and Bargnani. And Maccabi tried to play post up on Alexander. Physicians claim that there are multiple universes. In none of them Alexander can play post up on Voigtmann.

* Maccabi had this season some weird attempts to play with Seeley, Weems or even Goudelock as playmakers. Tonight they did it simple: Mekel and Ohayon, the only true PG in the team, were the playmakers. So of course Maccabi's game was still wild and based on individual plays and instincts, but some posessions were executed very well by Mekel. He was one rebound and three assists away from a triple double. Many of Landesbergs three pointers came from nice assists. That just shows what Maccabi could have done this season if they had a decent PG.

* Bakonia came to Tel Aviv with a tactical descision: to punish Maccabi with fast breaks after a long rebound or a steal. It helped them of making some quick easy points, usually with Hanga as the executer.

* The basques scored no points in the first three minutes, and then 9 points in the following three minutes. What does it is say about Maccabi's defence? Is it good or bad? Well, Maccabi tend to suffer from inconsistent defence. They kept Baskonia for some minutes without scoring not beacuse of a good defence - but simply because Baskonia missed open shots. Maccabi's defence gambles as a system - they sagg and let the opponent throw from distance. When the shots go out, one may think the defence functions. Well, it does not. There are way to many players in Maccabi who lack defensive abilities. But a least they were showing aggressiveness tonight, it is not something that can be taken for granted this season in Tel Aviv.

* Maccabi had a single, sad, offensive rebound in the first half. It was not that bad - well, they even lead in halftime - since they scored with an amazing 60% from the field.

* Sito Alonso forgot Larkin on the bench in the second quarter, and Bargnani in the fourt. It is difficult to explain why Baskonia played without their top scorer in the money time.

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