Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv got off to a great start in the Winner League with a decisive 89 – 70 victory over Hapoel Galil/Gilboa. Casspi was top scorer with 18 points. (Photography by Roi Idan).
By Amy Samin
Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim moved newcomer Marcus Brown up to the starting lineup, and opened the game with Brown, Carlos Arroyo, Lior Eliyahu, Tal Burstein and D’or Fischer.
Galil/Gilboa’s starters were Brian Roberts, Guni Izraeli, Aaron Nixon, Elishay Kadir and Brian Randle.
Maccabi got off to a good start in the opening minutes of the first quarter, with baskets by Fischer and Eliyahu, in a continuation of the dominance they demonstrated in last week’s Euroleague game against Cibona.
But Maccabi couldn’t keep up the pace, and Nixon and company closed, then took over the lead, 6 –
Maccabi looked a bit sluggish, but came back quickly, with three- pointers by Brown and Casspi, which brought the score to 13 – 11 Maccabi with three minutes left in the quarter.
Casspi continued to shine (10 points in the first quarter), scoring another three-pointer and a basket and bringing the score to 24 – 16 at the end of the quarter.
The tempo was a bit slower for Maccabi at the start of the second quarter, and for awhile they couldn’t quite regain the rhythm they had shown on offense in the first quarter.
Gal Mekel and Nir Cohen scored for Galil/Gilboa, closing the score to 24 – 21 two minutes into the quarter.
Jason Williams and Tre Simmons came alive, bringing Maccabi’s lead back up to 31 – 22 in the fourth minute of the quarter.
Points scored by Fischer and Eliyahu put that lead up into double digits.
A few good possessions by the visitors, along with excellent defense by Mekel, got Galil/Gilboa back in the game, 38 – 34 with a minute left in the half.
Birenboim called a time out, after which Maccabi regained a decent lead thanks to the Israeli version of the
Maccabi stormed the court at the start of the third quarter, with sharp, successful offensive plays and tight defense, especially by Eliyahu and Fischer, resulting in a 10 – 2 scoring run and giving the home team a 50 – 36 lead after 3 and a half minutes of play in the quarter.
Maccabi continued to stomp all over their opponents, with two three-pointers from Arroyo brining the fans in the arena to their feet and Maccabi’s lead to 58 – 38 with 4 minutes left in the quarter.
Excellent defense and plenty of fighting on offense kept Maccabi’s lead close to 20 points for the rest of the quarter, while limiting Galil/Gilboa to only 11 points.
Close to the end of the quarter, the visitors were able to close the gap a little, with the score at 62 – 45 in favor of Maccabi at the end of the quarter.
Galil/Gilboa continued to put up a fight, and managed to close the gap still more, bringing the score to 62 – 49 after a basket by Lucas Tischer.
But Maccabi fought back, with shots from downtown by Brown and Arroyo putting the lead back up to twenty, 75 – 55, five minutes into the fourth quarter.
For the remainder of the quarter coach Birenboim tried out different combinations of players, while the crowd sat back and enjoyed the show.
The final score: 89 – 70 to Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Box Scores:
Maccabi: Casspi 18 points, 6 rebounds; Eliyahu 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists; Arroyo 14 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists; Brown 11 points; Tre Simmons 8 points; Yaniv Green 7 points; Burstein 5 points; Williams 4, Fischer 4 points, 8 rebounds; Sharp 3 points.
Galil/Gilboa: Randle 15 points; Roberts 13 points; Tischer 13 points; Kadir 11 points.
Head coach Efy Birenboim spoke up after the game: “This victory has an added value.
The players played hard, and played together, and the team as a whole looked different.
One swallow doesn’t bring the spring; the transition from
Our game tonight went well, but we still need to work on many things.”
“Getting here means knowing that everything is different from any other place you’ve ever been.
You’ve seen that we have talent and can dominate on the court.
We look good if there is confidence.
This was an important victory, and even I enjoyed it.
There’s a lot to work on.
The transition from Europe to
There were many good moments, and I’m happy it ended this way.”
Omri Casspi said: “We came to the game tonight with a lot of motivation and energy.
We played well for large parts of the game, and we have to keep on that path.
The behavior of all the players is extremely professional.
Even the players whose futures are uncertain come to the practices and give their all.
It’s impossible to compare a Euroleague game to a game in the Israeli league.
We have time between now and Thursday to make changes.”
Carlos Arroyo, who had an excellent second half, said: “I think it took me, all of us, some time to get into the game tonight, but in the end we showed that we are a good team on the court, and we really deserved this victory.”
The Puerto Rican complimented the team’s newest player, and said, “I am happy to be working together with a player like Marcus Brown with his experience, his shooting skill and his ability to create shooting opportunities for himself and others.”
