A good first half wasn’t enough, and Maccabi lost 73 – 70 in a practice game against Frankfort. Marcus Fizer and Tre Simmons were in the starting five, and played more than a few minutes. Maccabi will play another game today (Monday).
By Amy Samin
Maccabi opened the game with a new starting five: Marcus Fizer, Carlos Arroyo, Tal Burstein, Lior Eliyahu and Tre Simmons.
The latter was responsible for Maccabi’s first points in the game, scoring from outside the arc, but Fizer seemed a little unfocussed and missed twice.
Head coach Pini Gershon wanted Fizer to get as much play as possible, and instructed his team to keep sending the ball to the big forward.
After a number of minutes, Gershon changed his big men, putting in D’or Fischer and Yaniv Green in place of Eliyahu and Fizer.
As the quarter went on, Maccabi’s defense was tight, and they scored some easy points to come to a 17 – 10 lead.
By the end of the quarter, they were leading 27 – 16.
Maccabi looked a little weak defensively as the second quarter opened, and the Germans were able to score some easy points.
In the first four minutes of the period, Maccabi scored only 4 points, bringing the score to 31 – 21.
Fizer returned to the game showing a lot of drive, especially on defense, but had some trouble scoring against the big Germans.
In the final minutes of the half, Maccabi opened the throttle, closing out the period with a 41 – 33 lead.
Simmons was Maccabi’s top scorer of the half, with 14 points.
The third quarter opened with Maccabi strong on offense, but less so on defense, allowing
After four minutes, the score was 51 – 40.
Once again Maccabi slacked off on offense, and with five and a half minutes gone, the score was 53 – 47.
Maccabi continued to play badly, allowing the Germans to take the lead for the first time in the game, 56 – 55 at the close of the third period.
Maccabi continued to play well below their abilities, scoring only 4 points in the first half of the final quarter of the game.
Luckily for the Israelis,
Within three minutes, Maccabi had come back and tied the score at 68, but they weren’t able to do more.
With the Germans leading by three, Arroyo missed a shot, and even team captain Derrick Sharp shooting from the free throw line couldn’t help Maccabi.
The game ended in a German victory, 73 – 70.
Box Scores for Maccabi:
Simmons, 18 points; Arroyo 17 points; Green 12 points.
Fizer finished with 4 points in 12 minutes of play.
Marcus Brown, who arrived late, and Jason Williams did not play.
“We tried a few things,” said assistant coach Sharon Drucker.
“We gave Fizer twelve minutes, and he showed some positive signs.
Of course, he needs to get into shape after so much time away from the game.
Simmons was great until he got hurt in the groin.
In the next game, we’ll see what we see.
We need to come back with a victory.”
