By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv improved the longest active streak of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with the blowout win on the road, 87-69, versus Bitci Baskonia on Friday evening.
Derrick Williams, returning to Spain after the 2020-21 stint at Valencia, poured 21 points in the Regular Season Round 8 contest. Former Xavier star, Jalen Reynolds and Ante Zizic finished with 16 points apiece. Keenan Evans threw in 14 points and eight assists.
“When we play a complete game like this, not too many teams can beat us. That’s how I feel,” explained Williams, “I was just taking and making good shots with my teammates finding me. That’s the main thing. My teammates believe in me. If I’m open, I’m going to shoot it. If they’re open, we’re going to pass it to somebody who is open.”
“The sky’s the limit,” added Evans, “If we stay together and we stay level-headed and not get too high from wins, who knows? We just hope we can keep running them off. It was a team effort. Everybody contributed. And that’s why we came out with the win.”
The visitors quickly recovered after a 13-0 start to the second quarter by Baskonia to regain the lead. The solid team showing on the boards resulting in a 35-28 rebounding edge was key for additional distance after the break combined with the effective offense highlighted by 21 team assists.
“He sprained his ankle and although he didn’t play after that all the others played for him,” mentioned Giannis Sfairopoulos regarding Scottie Wilbekin’s early exit.
The fifth straight EuroLeague win upped the W-L tally to 6-2 for the Israeli powerhouse. The team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz went down to 3-5 with the fifth consecutive loss in all competitions.
“I think we controlled the game from the beginning with our good defense,” said the Greek head coach, “When you allow the home team to score fewer than 70 points, you get into the game, you control the game. Also on offense, we had some moments where we played really well, sharing the ball, playing smart, and moving the ball to the best option.”
Wade Baldwin IV recorded seven of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. Simone Fontecchio went 0/6 from inside the arc but still made his way to 13 points, seven rebounds, and five steals. Matt Costello also logged 13 points. Newcomer Lamar Peters was sidelined along with injured Alec Peters and Sander Raieste for the team coached by Dusko Ivanovic.
“They played better, they played easier than us,” underlined the Montenegrin play-caller, “On offense, they had easy open shots and we had a problem on offense. Maccabi was much better than us tonight. In some moments we competed quite well, but their offensive rebounds and inside game were much better than ours.”
Maccabi, also 3-1 in Israel’s Winner League, will visit Hapoel U-NET Holon on Monday before moving the winning streak to Russia and face CSKA Moscow next Thursday.
Baskonia had actually won the two previous EuroLeague games at Fernando Buesa Arena. The next chance to bounce back is against Unicaja Malaga after the 3-5 start in the ACB. From there, against FC Barcelona in EuroLeague’s Round 9.
Luca Vildoza, fresh off the ankle surgery costing his spot on the New York Knicks 2021-22 roster, was in attendance watching his former team.