Maccabi beat Efes Pilsen and their Israeli coach David Blatt at home at the close of a troubled week in a close and exciting game. Maccabi were apprehensive due to Vijcic’s absence, but found a fitting replacement, the Uruguayan Esteban Batista who played exceptionally well scoring 14 points.

Both teams started with untidy messy play. Marcus Fizer scored 4 consecutive points in a good start, but his teammates started clocking up turnovers. Maccabi was lucky that Pilsen also took to the court somewhat apprehensively and clocked a few turnovers by not being able to keep possession of the ball. Drew Nicholas put the Turks into a 7-4 lead with a basket and foul, 3.5 minutes into the game. Four consecutive points by Lior Eliyahu including a massive dunk from a pass by Bynum, kept Maccabi hot on the trail.

Bynum put Maccabi into the lead with a three, 11-9 halfway into the first quarter. Drew Nicholas tried to keep Pilsen in the game but a three from Cummings followed by a steal that ended in a basket by Eliyahu put Maccabi in the lead at 16-13, 3 minutes to the 10 minute mark. Arslan and Hutson for the Turks and Sharp for Maccabi leveled the first quarter score at 18-18.

When the game resumed, Blumenthal and Morris led Maccabi to a 4 point lead within a minute, but Fizer, frustrated from having received a previous foul, fouled again and a technical was awarded to the Turks who leveled the score at 22-22, a minute and a half into the quarter. The big man was in foul trouble and benched. Batista replaced Fizer and scored his first points. Edgy an inaccurate play followed with the referees blowing unnecessarily.

Derek Sharp got the Nokia crowd onto their feet with a tremendous three. Lior Eliyahu continued his excellent play putting Maccabi in the lead at 29-22 making David Blatt bolt to request a timeout, 6 minutes to the buzzer. Pilsen resumed a little more focused, and Maccabi looked stuck once again, allowing Gregory and Hutson to level at 29-29, 4 minutes to half time. The score stayed level until the buzzer sounded after Bynum’s free throws. 36-35 to Maccabi.

Bynum led Maccabi to a 40-35 lead after scoring points and feeding Batista with an excellent pass one minute into the second half. Nicholas got back into form by scoring his first two points after a few long minutes. Wood added one point from the free throw line putting Pilsen into the lead for the first time since the start of the game, 44-43 to Pilsen, half way into the quarter. Nicholas continued in excellent form by adding 4 more points on the scoreboard. On the other side, Fizer was again in trouble and the lead diminished to 50-46, two and a half minutes to the buzzer.

Woods added 2 and Kattash took a break to stop the landslide. Pilsen, not affected at all by the timeout continued to hit Maccabi hard. A three by Sconnie Penn and Pilsen were in a record lead of nine points, 55-46. Yotam Halperin cleverly penetrated the Turkish defense to finalize the quarter’s score at 55-50, one quarter to go.

The terrible attacking play by both teams throughout the first three quarters did not suddenly disappear in the last quarter. Batista broke the ice, capitalizing on a great pass by Halperin, 55-53, a minute and a half from the start. The Ecuadorian center positioned himself well during the following attacks to basket a missed shot from Halperin and finish a stinging fast-break that then followed. Maccabi took the lead 57-55 with 7 minutes to go. Maccabi desperately did all they could to stop Nicholas but the American sharp shooter put Pilsen back in lead with a gigantic three. Sharp immediately reciprocated with a fantastic three of his own, 62-60, 5 minutes to go.

Both teams started a shooting battle from the free-throw line with Sharp and Eliyahu shooting accurately and Bynum then adding 2 points from half the distance, 68-64, 3 minutes left.

Sharp missed a difficult three but Morris came to the rescue with a powerful block on Penn, leaving the lead at 4 points to Maccabi. Will Bynum missed a difficult shot at a crucial moment but Morris scored a three thrown whilst under time pressure making it 71-65 to Maccabi with a minute to go. Two successful free throws and a convincing rebound from Bynum finalized the score at 73-67.

Maccabi: Batista 14, Eliyahu 13, Morris 11, Bynum 10, Sharp 8, Fizer 7, Cummings 4, Halperin 2.

Pilsen: Hutson 21, Nicholas 14, Gregory 12, Woods 9, Gonlum 4, Kurtoglu 3, Penn 3, Arslan 1.