In a demonstration game against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv lost 106 – 91. Anderson scored 20 points, while Fischer racked up an impressive 19 points and 16 rebounds.
By Amy Samin
After a successful start to the Euroleague season, Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv was hosted by the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, where they came away on the short end of a 106 – 91 score.
The game was played according to NBA rules, which among other things included an extra two minutes per quarter and a longer range for three point shots.
On Sunday night, Maccabi flew to Los Angeles, where they will face the Clippers on Tuesday.
Maccabi’s starting five included Andrew Wisniewski, Alan Anderson, Chuck Eidson, D’or Fischer and Maciej Lampe.
The Knicks’ starters were Nate Robinson, Chris Duhon, Jared Jeffries, Wilson Chandler and David Lee.
Mekel and Shelef in the pre-game warm-up (photo by Noam Galai)
Maccabi opened the game with four quick points, but the Knicks soon responded and after three minutes had taken a 10 – 4 lead.
Two straight buckets by Eidson whittled that to 10 – 8.
Anderson, who got off to a rare slow start, left the game and was replaced by Perkins with the hosts leading 18 – 10 halfway through the first period.
Fischer and Eidson continued to be effective on offense and once again narrowed the gap, this time to 18 – 14, but the Knicks continued to drive to the basket and get the easy points.
Anderson, who had reentered the game, scored six straight, including a dunk with less than two minutes on the clock.
The first quarter ended with the score Knicks 28 – Maccabi 22.
The second quarter also opened well for Maccabi, with Perkins showing off his skills on both ends of the court, bringing Maccabi to within three: 30 – 27.
Lasme made an enormous block on Harrington, but the Knicks managed to score anyway.
There followed several slow minutes for both teams, but then the Knicks woke up and increased their lead, 34 – 27 off points by Harrington.
Anderson continued to show his shooting talent, but was called for his third foul and left the game, replaced by Guy Pnini, who put in a fine performance in his first-ever game against an NBA team.
Eidson was charged with an unsportsmanlike foul, and the Knicks forged ahead to a double-digit lead, 41 – 31 halfway through the period.
Maccabi had no luck getting their shots to drop, and the Knicks continued to press forward.
When the half ended, the New York team was in the lead 56 – 35.
Anderson after scoring against the Knicks (photo by Noam Galai)
The second half of the game got off to a slower start than the first, for both teams.
Anderson got called for his fourth foul, while Fischer and Lampe scored.
After three minutes, the score was 60 – 40.
Less than a minute passed before Anderson was called for his fifth foul, a technical, and went to the sidelines.
The Knicks took flight, running the score up to 69 – 42. Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon, in the heat of the moment following Maccabi’s first three-pointer of the game at the hands of the capable Pnini, was called for his second technical foul and ejected from the game.
Maccabi, now under the guidance of assistant coach Sharon Drucker, had some strong minutes and closed the gap a little; a steal and layup from Raviv Limonad with seconds left on the clock closed out the period with the score 82 – 65.
A bucket plus one for Lasme (off a nice assist from Limonad), and free throws from Anderson, helped Maccabi chip away just a little more at the Knicks’ lead, 84 – 70.
The Knicks kept on scoring, however.
Excellent defense by Fish, along with strong offense from Anderson and Perkins, kept the lead at fourteen: 91 – 77 with six minutes remaining in the game.
The two guards continued to score, but Maccabi couldn’t gear up on defense to stop the Knicks from scoring in response, and the lead stayed wide open.
With 2:30 left on the clock, the teams went into time out with the score 101 – 83.
In the closing minutes of the game, Yaniv Green and Gal Mekel both scored, but the clock ran out on a score of Knicks 106 – Maccabi 91.
Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni (photo by Noam Galai)
Box Scores
Maccabi: Anderson 20 points, 5 assists; Fischer 19 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists; Lampe 14 points, 7 rebounds; Eidson 11 points, 7 rebounds; Perkins 11 points; Lasme and Pnini 5 points each; Green, Mekel and Limonad 2 points each.
Knicks: Top scorers: Robinson 19 points; Lee 14 points, 12 rebounds; Chandler and Harrington 11 points each.
Maccabi’s response to the Pini Gershon incident: “The referee called a foul on a Knicks player, and while he cursed at him and made a rude gesture, the referee let it go.
Before that, he called three technicals on us for a lot less.
Pini called him on it and for that was given his second technical and ejected from the game.
It was a bad call by the referee, especially in a pre-season game.”
Yaniv Green: “We came to pay respect to the Jewish community.
A competitive game against N.B.A. players and coping with their size is good preparation for us in the Euroleague… About Pini, it’s a shame that in a preseason game the referees were so extreme in their calls for technicals.”
Team portrait in Madison Square Garden (photo by Noam Galai)
