After suffering two consecutive road defeats Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to Nokia Arena and recorded its 14th straight home Euroleague victory, defeating Cibona Zagreb 91-83. Maccabi trailed for most of the first three quarters, but grabbed control in the last 10 minutes. Maccabi returned to second place (7-5) at group B with 2 games left at the regular season.
Tel Aviv was led as usual by Nikola Vujcic, who scored 29 points, took seven rebounds and passed six assists, but the star of the evening was Tal Burstein that scored 17 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and was the leader that everyone expected him to be.
Maccabi looked stressed at the start of the game and trailed 19-29 after 10 minutes. Cibona ran to a 16 points lead and Maccabi looked lost, but Vujcic, Eliyahu and Sharp minimized the damage, 39-46 at halftime. Maccabi responded great from midway of the third quarter thanks to Burstein responsible plays and shots. Vujcic baby hook at the buzzer of the third quarter tied the game, 66-66, and the last 10 minutes belonged to Maccabi that surged to an 11 points lead with Burstein and Sharp’s threes.