On Thursday, Maccabi Tel Aviv beat without suffering an inconsistent Valencia Basket, who survived in the first half thanks to unforced errors from their rival and who, although they came close to the two points in the third quarter, were diluted with almost no resistance, victim of his losses and the lack of control of the rebound in his basket when the locals squinted.
From the start and against an irregular Maccabi shooting, Valencia took a small advantage with ‘free’ attacks in which they knew how to punish from the 6’75 line but without being able to give a feeling of solidity. With this scenario, the local team didn’t have too many problems and, having adjusted their aim, they took the lead with a couple of triples (13-8, m.8).
Jonah Radebaugh’s commitment as a converted point guard, far from being the solution, further weakened the attacks of Álex Mumbrú’s team. Only the solidity of Victor Claver and the little tusk of the local team prevented the Israeli team from going out in the standings (26-19, m.15).
The script of the meeting did not change until the end of the first part and only the protagonists did. In this case it was a pair of individual moves by Bojan Dubljevic and Jasiel Rivero that buoyed the visitors against their many turnovers (35-27, m.20).
Going through the dressing room somewhat clarified Valencia’s offensive ideas, who circulated the ball faster and shared it better. Their greater offensive fluidity took a while to take effect due to some defensive inconsistency, but the visitors ended up narrowing the score.
Maccabi continues to miss easy shots and a triple by Klemen Prepelic ends up warning the locals of the danger they are running (49-47, m.29). The appearance of Romas Sorkin after Wade Baldwin’s injury gave the premises air until Spanish international Lorenzo Brown, Austin Hollins and Darrun Hilliard corrected the point of view, which together with the lack of rebound control in the away basket put an end to hopes from Valencia (73-58, m.35). From there to the end there was no match and without pressing the accelerator Maccabi collected a comfortable victory.
– Data sheet:
84.- Maccabi Tel Aviv (15+20+18+31): Lorenzo Brown (15), Baldwin IV (9), Martin (4), Colson (10), Nesbo (8) -starting cinco- Adams (-) , Sorkin (7), Dibartholomew (6), Hilliard (11), Cohen (8) and Hollins (6).
68.- Valencia Basket (10+17+20+21): Harper (7), López-Arostegui (15), Webb III (5), Pradilla (-), Dubljevic (11) -five starters- Ferrando (-) , Puerto (-), Prepelic (4), Claver (13), Radebaugh (4), Alexander (2) and Rivero (7).
Referees: Boltauzer (ESL), Nikolic (SER), Trawicki (POL). Sin canceled.
Incidents: match corresponding to the twelfth day of the regular Euroleague basketball phase played at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv in front of about eight thousand spectators.
(c) EFE Agency
