Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv 
Baskonia Vitoria Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Baskonia Vitoria
Made/Att
Made/Att
Made/Att
DEF OFF TOT
CM RV
FV AG
Maccabi faces Baskonia in Play-In showdown
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv worked hard all season long to be in position to play in the EuroLeague playoffs. Now the yellows have a chance to clinch the 7th seed, when they host Baskonia in Belgrade Arena in the first-ever EuroLeague Play-In game (Tuesday, 8 PM Israel time, 1 PM ET).
The Israeli champions closed out the regular season in the 7th spot with 20 wins and 14 losses, while their Basque rivals finished 8th with a 18-16 record. The winner of the game will go on to battle Panathinaikos in the quarter-finals series next week; the losing team will have a second chance to qualify on Friday against the winner between Virtus Bologna and Anadolu Efes.
Baskonia, coached by Dusko Ivanovic, reached the game by beating Real Madrid and Virtus on the road in their final two games of the season. Led by sharpshooting guard Markus Howard, who led the competition this season with 19.4 points per game, Maccabi’s rivals boast a potent offense.
“We cannot feel like favorites, but we need to welcome this opportunity”, said Maccabi head coach Oded Kattash, “We had a good season, we deserve to reach the playoffs. In a single game everything can happen. We face a crazy shooting team with one of the best shooters in the EuroLeague. It will take a team effort”.
In their previous two encounters this season, the home team prevailed by eerily similar scorelines: Maccabi won 91-82 in Belgrade, while Baskonia earned a 92-82 victory in Vitoria. The all-time record between the teams inn the EuroLeague is 19-18 for Maccabi, but the yellows won 5 our of 6 games in the knockout stages, including the 2005 finals.
Maccabi clinch playoffs birth with a masterclass performance against Baskonia
What was considered as a challenging and dangerous mano a mano, turned out to be a one-sided show. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv delivered a masterclass en route to a EuroLeague playoffs birth, with an exhilirating 113-85 home victory over Baskonia in the Play-In on Tuesday. Oded Kattash and his squad earned the 7th seed, setting up a quarter-finals series against Panathinaikos starting next week.
Some 300 fans showed up in the Belgrade Arena – no more were allowed due to security concerns – creating an different atmosphere than previous “home” games in the Serb capital. And with their support, Maccabi jumped on their rivals from the start, led by a vintage Lorenzo Brown performance.
Maccabi’s point guard notched a season-high 29 points, making 7 three pointers (a career high) out of 8 attempts, while also dishing out 5 assists. Alongside him, Wade Baldwin IV had 26 points of his own, but his biggest contribution was probably his big efforts to keep Baskonia star Markus Howard at bay. In all, the yellows hit a club-record 19 three pointers in the game, and the Basques never stood a chance.
“It’s a beautiful feeling right now”, shared Brown, “Driving all year, going through adversity, but we’ve been sticking with it, staying together, and that’s the most important part for our team. It’s been a long year for me, playing this whole year through injury and a few other things as well, but we’ve been pushing through it and letting everything flow by.”
