Since February 10th Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv did not olose a game in the Euroleague. But after a run of 11 wins, the Euroleague Champions lost tonight in Piraeus 78-83 vs Olympiacos.
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”><FONT face=”Times New Roman” size=3>This was a game that we will want to forget as soon as possible mainly because of the poor performance of the Maccabi players especially Parker, Vujcic & Baston that were very well stopped by the home team defense. Parker scored his first pts after 17 minutes, Baston had only 2 pts in the game and Vujcic finished the first half with 2 free throws only.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”><FONT face=”Times New Roman” size=3>Maccabi had a 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter but the home team took a 35-29 lead and at half time 39-36. Maccabi started the second half with a 7-0 run and it looked like they are taking control of the game (45-39). The Greeks came back (54-54), led 60-59 but Parker had the final say 61-60 at the end of the third period.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”><FONT face=”Times New Roman” size=3>Led by ex Maccabi player Quincy Lewis, who had an excellent game, Olympiacos ran 8-0 and led 68-61. But Maccabi responded immediately with a 13-0 run executed by Burstein, Green & Vujcic. With four minutes to go the Yellows were 74-68 up. But the Reds were not finished and Lewis and the big man Schortanitis, regained the lead. A series of free throws (28-30 from the line) assured Olympiacos their deserved win.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”><FONT face=”Times New Roman” size=3>Will Solomon was Maccabi`s top scorer with 19n pts in 43% FG. He pulled down 7 rbds, made 4 steals but had only one assist. Tal Burstein had an excellent second half and he ended the game with 9 pts, 8 rbds & 6 assist.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”><FONT face=”Times New Roman” size=3>Parker (11 pts) was in poor shooting form with 29% FG (4-14), 2 rbds & 4 assists. Vujcic scored 9 pts in 30% FG, pulled down 5 rbds and dished out 5 assists.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”><FONT face=”Times New Roman” size=3>Other Maccabi scorers: <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” /><st1:place w:st=”on”><st1:City w:st=”on”>Arnold</st1:City></st1:place> 10 & 7 rbds, Green 7 & 2 blocked shots, Penney 6, Sharp 5, Baston 2 pts.</FONT></P><SPAN style=”FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: `Times New Roman`; mso-fareast-font-family: `Times New Roman`; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: HE”>Top scorers for Olympiacos: Lewis 21 & 6 rbds, Edney & 5 ass, Schotsanitis 13 pts & 5 rbds, Seibotis 13 points.</SPAN>
