The Israeli champs closed a 15-point gap but could not complete a comeback in Belgrade. Sorkin excelled with 16 points. On Thursday: Fenerbahce arrives
In many ways, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv had no business fighting for a victory against the EuroLeague finalists until the final seconds on Tuesday. The yellows lost Wade Baldwin IV to a stomach bug, received nearly zero offensive output from Lorenzo Brown and Bonzie Colson (combined for 4-out-of-21 from the field) and made only 6 threes out of 30 attempts.
Yet the Israeli champs nearly eked out a third win in a row, narrowly conceding a 74:79 loss to Olympiacos in Belgrade. Maccabi rallied back from a 15-point halftime deficit and made it a one possesion game, but failed to capitalise and fell to a 4-3 record.
“We lost the game in the first half on defense”, admitted head coach Oded Kattash postgame. “We fought in the second half, did a good job defensively, played with the right energy in the second half and gave ourselves a chance to win but it wasn’t a good enough game offensively”.
With Brown (8 assists) and Colson (9 rebounds) having an off shooting day, other players stepped up. Roman Sorkin had what is easily his best game of the season, leading Maccabi’s scoring with 16 points – including a three-pointer in the final minute. Tamir Blatt scored 13 while new forwards James Webb and Jasiel Rivero each added 10 points.
Coach Kattash will have less than 48 hours to prepare for another challenging EuroLeague matchup on Thursday, when it will be Fenerbahce’s turn to visit Maccabi in Serbia.
