By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Tel Aviv saw ALBA Berlin almost completely erasing a 17-point margin down the stretch before getting an 87 – 78 win at home in a postponed game of Round 20 of the EuroLeague regular season.
ALBA was trailing 65 – 48 with three minutes remaining in the third period but fought back and approached 79 – 76 with 2:30 to play after back-to-back 3-pointers by Luke Sikma and Maodo Lo. Maccabi didn’t score and then dodged a bullet when Ben Lammers missed an easy wide-open lay-up after an alley-oop pass.
On the other end, Keenan Evans dunked the ball and then John Dibartolomeo made his first basket of the night, a triple for the 84 – 76. This time Maccabi was safe enough to get its second straight EuroLeague victory after the one vs. Olympiacos Piraeus.
Scottie Wilbekin led Maccabi overall with 18 points plus six assists. Derrick Williams and Jalen Reynolds had 14 points and six rebounds apiece while Ante Zizic also scored 14. Their team committed just five turnovers while producing 20 assists.
“We made enough plays,” Wilbekin said. “We were almost in danger of giving away the game like we have a few times this season, but we were able to dig down, get some stops and get some buckets. Keenan (Evans) and John (Dibartolomeo) made big plays, and sealed the deal.”
Lo finished with 18 points, Sikma posted 12 points plus six rebounds and former Maccabi wing Yovel Zoosman scored 10 points in his first return to Menora Mivtachim as an opponent.
“They arrived at the end with more energy than us,” Maccabi coach Israel Gonzalez said. “Realistically, in the situation we’re in, coming after Coronavirus without practicing, I have to be happy with the performance we gave today. We have to try to survive the wave of games that we have now.”
Less mistakes, more fun
Maccabi coach Giannis Sfairopoulos liked a lot of things in his team’s game vs. ALBA but perhaps nothing pleased him more than the small number turnovers.
“Today we had a very good game and it’s obvious from the 5 turnovers that we controlled the tempo of the game from the beginning to the end,” Sfairopolos said. “Five players had double digit points, we had 20 assists, 5 turnovers and 10 steals. That was very crucial when ALBA came back, there was a moment we stole the ball two or three times in a row, scored some easy baskets and sealed the game. We need to continue and be more stable with our performances.”