Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Caja Laboral 81 – 60 to take a 2 – 1 lead in the best-of-five series. Once again, Pargo and Blu were outstanding.
By Amy Samin
Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv got another step closer to the Final Four in Barcelona after an impressive 81 – 60 win over Caja Laboral in Nokia Arena. Jeremy Pargo was outstanding with 23 points, and David Blu contributed 16 (including 4 three-pointers). The victory came at a price however, as point guard Doron Perkins was injured at the start of the second quarter and is out for the rest of the season.
Maccabi started the game with Pargo, Chuck Eidson, Lior Eliyahu, Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Perkins. Starting for Caja Laboral were Marcelinho Huertas, David Logan, Mirza Teletovic, Esteban Batista, and Fernando San Emeterio. The first quarter was played at a furious pace that saw the lead change hands no less than 15 times. Maccabi’s first points came with a layup by Pargo at the shot clock buzzer just under a minute after the game got underway. It didn’t take Caja Laboral long to even the score off points from Batista, who added the and-one to put the lead in Spanish hands. Maccabi’s demon defense was back in full force, forcing a shot clock violation on the visitors. A drive to the basket by Eliyahu and muscular points under the basket by Sofo (assist Pargo) kept things exciting. Sofo dished to Pargo to put Maccabi up 8 – 7 after three minutes, then passed to Eliyahu for the dunk that made it 11 – 9, Maccabi near the halfway mark. Teletovic retook the lead for Caja Laboral, but was answered by Eidson on the left wing with Maccabi’s first three-pointer of the night to set the score at 14 – 12 with four minutes left in the period. The lead continued to seesaw, including an exchange of shots from outside the arc by Pargo (assist Guy Pnini), San Emeterio, and David Blu, whose catch and shoot from the right wing put Maccabi up 22 – 20 with less than a minute and a half left in the period. Brad Oleson tied it but Pargo drove to the basket to retake the lead, and the quarter ended with Maccabi up by one, 24 – 23.
Mere seconds into the second quarter, Perkins sustained an injury to his right knee and needed to be helped off the court. Once play resumed, Maccabi showed even more fire and determination. Eidson picked Huertas’ pocket and fed the ball to Milan Mačvan under the basket to put Maccabi up 26 – 23. Teletovic answered with two points of his own for the visitors, but that was the last heard from the Spanish offense for the next five minutes. Meanwhile, Maccabi went on a 9 – 0 spree that included points by Blu (assist Pnini), superb defense by the home team and a steal by Pargo, as well as two straight threes from Pargo (assist Sofo on the first, steal + assist Eidson on the second), making it 36 – 25 before Caja Laboral could catch their breath. With less than three minutes left in the period, Huertas finally got a shot to drop for the Spaniards. But the second quarter was all about Maccabi, with more great defensive work by Eidson and Richard Hendrix, a floating layup by Blu and a dazzling shot from outside the top of the arc by Mačvan to make it 41 – 30 going into halftime.
A veritable meteor shower of three-pointers from Blu kicked off the third quarter, as the American/Israeli shooter scored his patented catch-and-shoots from all over the court (assists Pnini and Sofo) to make it 52 – 37 after two and a half minutes. Sofo had an excellent game on defense, stopping Batista time and again; Maccabi kept the center from Uruguay to only 7 points in the game. Eidson scored from under the basket (assist Sofo), Pargo delivered one of his exhilarating drives to the basket (and one), and Eliyahu slammed in a one handed dunk on a fastbreak to put Maccabi up by 21, 59 – 38 with four minutes left in the period. Even with that comfortable cushion, Maccabi didn’t let up on defense, scrapping for rebounds, blocking shots, breaking up plays, and forcing yet another shot clock violation on the visitors. Huertas and Logan tried to get things rolling for the Spaniards, but they made the mistake of leaving Pnini all alone on the left wing, where he promptly drained a three (assist Mačvan) to make it 66 – 45 with less than a minute left in the period. Pargo showed he has more than a few tricks up his sleeve as he faked a layup, then stepped back for the three to cap off the quarter, which ended with Maccabi leading 69 – 45.
Eliyahu and Mačvan scored early in the fourth quarter but a bucket and one from Batista nipped the potential run in the bed. Pargo scored from the foul line, as did Sofo (following a steal and pass from Eidson). Three minutes into the final period Maccabi’s lead had gone to 77 – 48. Oleson and Logan prevented their deficit from swelling to thirty, and with four and a half minutes left in the game the score was 77 – 54. Hendrix (assists Tal Burstein and Pargo) and Logan traded baskets to make it 81 – 57 a minute later. Stanko Barac scored the final points of the game, which ended in an 81 – 60 victory for Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, putting them ahead of Caja Laboral two games to one in the series.
Box Score:
Maccabi: Pargo 23 points; Blu 16 points, 4 rebounds; Schortsanitis 9 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists; Mačvan 9 points; Eliyahu 8 points; Pnini 5 points, 4 assists; Eidson 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals; Hendrix 4 points, 4 rebounds; Perkins 2 points.
