Real Madrid 
Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv Real Madrid
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Wednesday: Real Madrid hosts Maccabi
The Yellow & Blue look to add on to their four-game winning streak, facing the Blancos in the Spanish capital. Sfairopoulos: "I expect our players to show the character we've implemented since I arrived here in Maccabi"
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv opens the double EuroLeague clash against Real Madrid as part of the 9th fixture of the 2020/21 season (Wednesday, 19:30, live on Sport5 – channel 55). Othello Hunter, who got hit in the face against Anadolu, will be available to the coaching staff after fitting a special mask and will fly with the Yellow & Blue to the pair of games against Madrid and Valencia on Friday. On the other hand, Omri Casspi, John DiBartolomeo, and Yovel Zoosman will fly with the team but won’t be available.
“We have to continue the momentum we built last week against a Real team that has quality and experience as one of the top European teams in the past couple of seasons”, Said head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos before the matchup. “We need to go out, fight hard, play well defensively, and smart offensively. I expect our players to show our character on both ends of the court and play the style of game we’ve implemented since I arrived here in Maccabi”.
“Maybe they can play, who knows…” Joked Sfairopoulos about the reasoning behind bringing Casspi, Zoosman, and DiBartolomeo on the trip to Spain. “They won’t play, but they’re in their last part of the preparations. We are going for five days, so I wanted the whole team together during this period. I’d like them to be around the active roster, and they also need to practice, so we decided it would be better for their progress to come with us and follow the team. Also, psychologically we will be all together fighting for every game no matter which competition making our supporters happy”.
“We are preparing to Real, we aren’t even looking at our next game, Told Oz Blayzer about the mindset coming into the double European clash. “We are focused on flying to this game, going out, and winning the game on Wednesday. It could be a big win for us, which will bring us back to the possession we’d like to be at. Our focus is 100% towards this game”.
In his third season under the Yellow & Blue, Angelo Caloiaro spoke about what the team can do to defeat their Spanish counterparts: “Real is a really good team, and they’re especially tough to beat at home. Still, we started to prepare yesterday by watching film, going over the game plan, and we’ve got to continue to get better ourselves, that’s the most important thing. I think we took a big step with that last Thursday, and we need to continue it, so that would be a great test for us”.
“Shooting always helps, but it really comes down to defense”, Emphasized the American forward. “We shot great from three in the Efes game, but we still lost, and versus Zalgiris, we shot great from three and won, but if we would have shot horribly against them, we would still probably win after winning almost by, and that was because of our defense. So that’s where we need to improve, and now that’s our biggest difference from last year, as our defense was superior to it is right now”.
Real defeats Maccabi 79:63
Real cut the Yellow & Blue four-game winning streak. Wilbekin finished the night with 18 points, Zizic added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Friday at 22:00: On the road at Valencia
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv dropped to a 3:6 record in the EuroLeague after a 63:79 loss to Real Madrid as part of the 9th European fixture. The Spanish set the tone early, starting hot from deep. Wilbekin helped the Yellow & Blue reduce the margin to single digits, but the hosts sealed the contest in the 4th quarter.
Scottie Wilbekin, Sandy Cohen, Elijah Bryant, Angelo Caloiaro, and Ante Zizic started for the Yellow & Blue while on the other end, Facundo Campazzo, Alberto Abalde, Gabriel Deck, Anthony Randolph, and Walter Tavares opened for the hosts.
Elijah Bryant scored four points for the Yellow & Blue as Randolph hit back to back triples giving Real a 10:6 advantage. Wilbekin laid in over the 220 cm of Tavares, cutting the edge in half, but Campazzo and Deck, led the Blancos to 6 unanswered points, 16:8 midway through the quarter.
Zizic recovered two offensive boards tallying four points inside, and his Croatian teammate Dragan Bender drove twice to the bucket and knocked it in, diminishing the margin to 5. The Spanish squad closed out the period with an 8:2 bolt as Deck drilled his 10th point and 6th triple of the hosts opening a double-digit advantage, 29:18.
Tyler Dorsey and Chris Jones scored five consecutive points for the Yellow & Blue, reducing the edge down to 6. Madrid good stretches continued as Tavares, Trey Thompkins, and Rudy Fernandez totaled three straight buckets in the paint, regaining the double-digit lead, 35:23.
Zizic added on to his terrific first half, dominating inside, scoring his 10th point keeping Maccabi in the thick of things, but Campazzo and Abalde raised the margin to 13 at halftime, 45:32.
Wilbekin drilled a triple for his 1500 point of his career, Randolph responded on the other end, but the American guard added another one from deep to open up the second half, 48:38. Bryant came for the rescue defensively, stealing the ball twice as Wilbekin converted his 8th point of the quarter, and Bender knocked down a three, which led to a Pablo Laso timeout, 50:43.
Real flipped the momentum totaling six straight points, retrieving the 13 point edge as Hunter converted a three-point play after drawing a foul from Tavares, 60:50. Randolph closed out the quarter, hitting both free throws, 62:50.
Jones drove left and laid in the first points of the last 10 minutes, as both teams had a tough time finding the bucket, 66:52. Midway through the quarter, Sergio Llull totaled his 10th point of the quarter, and Fernandez hit his first triple of the night as Wilbekin added on to his 18 points, and Zizic finished for his 14th point, 75:58. Real Madrid defeats Maccabi 79:63.
