Maccabi Electra Loses to Fenerbahce Ulker: 85 - 67

By: Amy Samin

Maccabi’s starting lineup included Arroyo, Fisher, White, Simmons and Casspi.
Fenerbahce Ulker opened with Preldzic, Giricek, Green, Turkcan, and Vidmar.

The game got off to a slow start, with neither team scoring much.A three point shot by Giricek gave Fenerbahce Ulker a small lead, 5 – 4, three and a half minutes into the quarter.
For Maccabi, Simmons played impressively, scoring Maccabi’s points in the early part of the quarter.Maccabi had a 12 – 8 lead after five minutes of play, but missed shots and turnovers on offense enabled the Turks to get back in the game.
Fenerbahce Ulker took advantage of the momentum they had built up, and a three pointer at the end of the quarter gave them a 19 – 17 lead.

Maccabi’s run of missed shots kept up at the start of the second quarter.
The team didn’t look good, particularly under the basket and on defense.
Two fast breaks by the Turks gave them a lead of 25 – 18, three minutes after the start of the second quarter.
Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim called a time out to try and break the team’s scoring drought (only one point in the first 5 minutes of the quarter), but it didn’t seem to help as Maccabi continued to have trouble scoring.
Meanwhile, the Turks had no such problem and the score stood at 36 – 24 in favor of Fenerbahce Ulker with three minutes left in the quarter.
Then things started turning around for Maccabi; the team looked sharp and seemed to find their rhythm, and they had closed the Turks’ lead to 36 – 30 by halftime.

Maccabi’s performance at the opening of the second half was uninspiring, while the Turks took advantage of the Israeli team’s lack of focus.
Two minutes into the third quarter, Fenerbahce Ulker had a lead of 43 – 30.
Contributions by White and Arroyo helped put Maccabi back in the game, and the score stood at 43 – 36 five minutes into the quarter.
For a while it looked like the momentum was back in the hands of Maccabi, but the Turks kept on scoring and the score went to 48 – 40.
Every time it looked like the Israelis were closing the gap, they would sabotage themselves with turnovers and offensive plays that went nowhere.
Meanwhile, the Turks kept their lead until the end of the quarter: 55 – 46.

Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Smith scored a three pointer for the Turks on a Maccabi turnover, putting the score at 60 – 48.
What started with White getting called for his fifth foul of the game on a three pointer by Basak went on to become an 8 – 0 point run by Fenerbahce Ulker, with the scoreboard showing 73 – 55 in favor of the Turks five minutes into the quarter.
Maccabi, who up until then had been trying to fight their way to a victory, began to think instead about preventing the loss from being worse.
Fenerbahce Ulker kept on coming, and Maccabi could only wait for the buzzer to sound, ending the game with a Turkish victory: 85 – 67.

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