The Israeli champions start their 2020/21 EuroLeague campaign with a home win over the Germans. Caloiaro excelled with a team-high 18 points, and Jones had a fabulous debut scoring 12 points and dishing 7 assists
Despite playing only 2 preseason games against local opponents and not holding a training camp, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv got off to a winning start holding off Alba Berlin 80:73 at the non-seated Menora Mivtachim Arena. After the win, the Yellow & Blue continued the tradition and thanked the empty seats.
The Yellow & Blue presented their latest additions as Chris Jones ran the show scoring 12 points, dishing 7 assists, and turning the ball only once. Angelo Caloiaro led all scorers with 18 points, Othello Hunter added 12 points and 6 rebounds. In his EuroLeague debut, Oz Blayzer showed up well, finishing with 4 points.
Giannis Sfairopoulos opened the season with Scottie Wilbekin, Tyler Dorsey, Oz Blayzer, Angelo Caloiaro, and Ante Zizic in Maccabi’s starting 5. Peyton Siva, Marcus Eriksson, Luke Sikma, Louis Olinde, and Johannes Thiemann on the other end.
After missing their first couple of attempts, Caloiaro and Wilbekin hit back to back triples, which gave the hosts a 6:3 advantage. Both teams got into a rhythm offensively. Eriksson recorded his 8th point early knocking in his second triple as Zizic converted 4 consecutive points scoring his first points with the Yellow & Blue, 10:12.
Dorsey’s three awarded Maccabi a 1 point advantage, but Alba’s two latest additions Simone Fontecchio and Ben Lammers led the Germans to a 9:0 run, 15:23. Chris Jones came off the bench for his first minutes and scored 4 straight buckets; however, Fontecchio continued a hot start, which gave the visitors a 29:19 advantage after 10 minutes.
In between quarters, coach Sfairopoulos spoke about the defensive end after allowing Alba 29 points in the first quarter, and his players responded. Wilbekin and Othello Hunter led an 11:2 charge to reduce the german lead down to 1, 30:31. Lammers scored in the paint, but then the Yellow & Blue stopped Berlin scoreless for 8 minutes while scoring 14 unanswered points;
Jones converted a triple to tie it up at 33, Sandy Cohen added one for the highlights slamming over a defender for a three-point play, and Jones dished to Caloiaro inside for another three-point play giving the hosts a double-digit advantage, 44:33. Jones capped off a remarkable first half with another triple, finishing with 12 points, 3 assists, and a +19 while on the court as Siva hit a shot from behind the arc to end the first half, 49:41.
Jayson Granger, who joined Alba from Bakonia, put the visitors on his back, knocking in back to back threes and another two points in the paint that diminished the lead down to 2. Still, Jones responded, spotting Blayzer twice under the basket for his first points under the Yellow & Blue colors, 55:49 midway through the third.
The Germans battled to stay in the game; Thiemann cut the lead by half, Caloiaro notched 4 straight free throws, but Siva answered on the other end with 4 consecutive points, 59:56. Elijah Bryant laid it in, scoring his first two of the new campaign, Hunter and Caloiaro reached double digits in points as the Yellow & Blue went on an 8:2 stretch in the final 2 minutes of the quarter, 67:58.
Caloiaro notched his 16th point of the night, and Bryant slammed it in after a steal, opening a 15 point lead, 75:60. Siva and Eriksson hit two consecutive shots from deep, reducing Maccabi’s advantage to 9, which led Giannis Sfairopouls to call a quick timeout, 75:66. After two scoreless minutes, Bryant scored a three-pointer, giving breathing room for the hosts 4:26 to the final whistle.
Fontecchio and Granger made a late push in the final minutes scoring 7 consecutive points, 78:73. However, Jonas Mattisseck and Siva missed their shots, and Wilbekin dished a last-second assist to Caloiaro, who laid it in. Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv starts the new season with a W over Alba Berlin, 80:73.
