Maccabi opened the game with head coach Efy Birenboim\u2019s by now standard quintet of D\u2019or Fischer and Lior Eliyahu under the basket, joined by Marcus Brown, Carlos Arroyo and Tal Burstein. Fischer, who was in excellent form, opened the game for Maccabi with 4 straight points; a three-pointer by Burstein after some smooth Maccabi ball handling gave the home team a quick 7 \u2013 2 lead over Nahariya. <\/SPAN> A second three-pointer by Arroyo, who looked excellent in the first quarter, along with a steal and another basket, took the score up to 23 \u2013 16 in Maccabi\u2019s favor. Three-pointers scored by Arroyo and Casspi finally put a stop to a Nahariya 8 \u2013 0 scoring run early in the second quarter, and three minutes into the quarter Maccabi had a 34 \u2013 28 lead. At the start of the third quarter, Maccabi looked to Eliyahu, who scored five straight points at the start of the second half. Casspi kept the momentum going at the start of the fourth quarter, scoring two baskets to bring the Maccabi\u2019s lead to 73 \u2013 59. Box Scores: Maccabi<\/SPAN><\/B>: Casspi, 19 points; Arroyo and Eliyahu 13 points each; Fischer and Burstein (8 assists) 11 points each; Sharp 9 points; Williams and Green 4 points each. Nahariya<\/SPAN><\/B>: McGhee and Lewis 21 points each; Washam 11 points; Ohayon 8 points. <\/P> \u201cFirst of all, we won, and that\u2019s what we play for,\u201d concluded Maccabi head coach Efy Birenboim<\/B>. \u201cIt\u2019s possible we didn\u2019t win because we aren\u2019t yet in shape,\u201d said Nahariya head coach Yakov Gino<\/B>.
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<\/SPAN>For Nahariya, head coach Yakov Gino surprisingly left Yogev Ohayon on the bench, starting instead with Nizan Hanuki, who was joined by Raviv Limonad, Ron Lewis, Aaron McGhee, and Tony Washam.
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<\/SPAN>Maccabi looked slick in the early minutes of the game; Fischer blocked a shot, then scored off an alley-oop from Brown to bring the home crowd to their feet.
<\/SPAN>Arroyo drained a three-pointer to bring the score to 12 \u2013 7 in favor of Maccabi, but two quick fouls called on Fischer put him on the bench.
<\/SPAN>Washam kept his team in the game and prevented Maccabi from breaking ahead.
<\/SPAN>With four minutes left in the quarter, a shot from outside the arc by Lewis brought the score to 16 \u2013 14.<\/SPAN><\/P>
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<\/SPAN>Another steal and an assist, this time by Dror Hagag in his first minutes in the game, plus a basket by Jason Williams, opened up a 9 point Maccabi lead.
<\/SPAN>Gino called a time out for Nahariya, and with Yaniv Green suffering a mild injury to his eye, Tre Simmons and Esteban Batista entered the game.
<\/SPAN>Maccabi started to struggle on offense near the end of the quarter, with missed shots and turnovers.
<\/SPAN>A basket by Lewis (10 points in the quarter) at the buzzer ended the quarter with the score 25 \u2013 22, Maccabi.
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<\/SPAN>The visitors were able to come back, with Robert Rothbart helping to close the gap, and bringing the score to 39 – 39 with three minutes left in the half.
<\/SPAN>Maccabi had a hard time coalescing on offense; a few rushed shots by Arroyo had Efy sitting him down on the bench for a rest.
<\/SPAN>Casspi took charge of the offense, sinking a three-pointer and a basket to give Maccabi back the lead, 46 \u2013 40 with a minute left in the half.
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<\/SPAN>On the other hand, Maccabi just didn\u2019t seem to have things together defensively, especially in the paint.
<\/SPAN>A basket by McGhee three minutes into the quarter closed Maccabi\u2019s lead to 2, 51 \u2013 49.
<\/SPAN>Effective defense by Maccabi\u2019s big men, especially Green, helped Maccabi extend their lead to 57 \u2013 51, with four and a half minutes left in the quarter.
<\/SPAN>When Efy put team captain Derrick Sharp into the game with
<\/SPAN>When Sharp bulleted in a three-pointer, the fans went wild and the score went to 62 \u2013 55.
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<\/SPAN>Just when it seemed Maccabi was on the way to an easy victory, the rhythm of the game changed, with Nahariya scoring 6 straight and shrinking Maccabi\u2019s lead to 75 \u2013 69 with five and a half minutes left in the game.
<\/SPAN>As always, Sharp rose to the challenge, scoring two more three pointers and generating turnovers by the visitors that brought Maccabi\u2019s lead back up to 80 \u2013 69.
<\/SPAN>But the visitors refused to concede the game, and a 7 \u2013 0 scoring run by Ohayon and Lewis closed the gap to 80 \u2013 76 with a minute and a half remaining.
<\/SPAN>It looked like Nahariya might end up taking the game, but at the crucial time their players choked, and all that remained was for Maccabi to sew up the game from the free throw line.
<\/SPAN>Final score, Maccabi Tel Aviv 84, Nahariya 78.
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<\/SPAN>\u201cWe establish a lead, and then instead of cleaning up the court and building a huge double-digit lead, we don\u2019t do that.
<\/SPAN>We don\u2019t get where I want us to be; I hope that it will happen in time.
<\/SPAN>This game is now history.
<\/SPAN>We have a tough Euroleague game coming up on Thursday, and that\u2019s what we need to prepare for now.
<\/SPAN>That will be a whole new game, a whole different match-up.
<\/SPAN>Even if we had won tonight by 30 points, I\u2019m not sure that would have been enough.
<\/SPAN>Our players are experienced enough to know that that\u2019s a whole different story.\u201d
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<\/SPAN>\u201cWe didn\u2019t do the little things near the end of the game.
<\/SPAN>I suppose with time the players will make fewer mistakes.
<\/SPAN>That\u2019s part of the game.
<\/SPAN>Good things we can take from this game?
<\/SPAN>Good fighting by the team, and solid minutes from Robert Rothbart.
<\/SPAN>We started out with a lot of mistakes and turnovers, but we improved in those areas during the game.
<\/SPAN>I have good, versatile players on the team.
<\/SPAN>With time we will see more good things from them.
<\/SPAN>It\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d