Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv will play this evening (Sunday, 16/10/05) at the Air Canada Center their 11th game vs an NBA team when then they meet the Toronto Raptors (13:00 Toronto time, 19:00 in Israel). The game will be broadcasted on Channel 10 stating at 23:00.
The Washington Bullets, then World Champions, were the first team to face Maccabi in 1978 in Tel Aviv with the Israeli champions winning 98-97. Maccabi played four times in the USA vs Philadelphia, Miami, Los Angels Lakers & Los Angeles Clippers. The six other games were played in Tel Aviv, the last one in October 1999 vs the Miami Heat. Maccabi won four of the ten games.
The Euroleague Champions arrived in Toronto on Friday morning and held two practice sessions. . The players & coaches take the game seriously and are looking for another win. It will be a specials occasion for Maceo Baston who will face the team he played for before joining Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv. The organizers expect a full house of 19,000 for Sunday’s game.
The Raptors lost last night their second preseason game, 100-107 vs Boston Celtics. Their starting line up included: Mike James (1.88) who scored 20 pts & handed 4 asists. Mat Bonner (2.08) with 16 pts & 5 rbds, Chris Bosh with 12 pts, 6 rbds & 4 bsts, Jalen Rose (2.03) with 11 pts & Brazilian Rafael Araujo (2.11) with 7 pts. Charlie Villenueva (2.11) came off the bench with 17 pts & 6 rbds. A familiar name is Spaniard Jose Calderon, who played for TAU Vitoria in last season’s Euroleague Final in Moscow when they were beaten by Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv. Head Coach of the Raptors is Sam Mitchell.
In the meantime Sarunas Jasikevicius is doing well with the Indiana Pacers in the preseason games. Saras was a starter in the 93-84 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. He played 24 min, scored 9 pts, made 2 assists & 2 steals.
