By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Fenerbahce Beko 85 – 76 at home in the last game of the 2021-22 EuroLeague regular season. This result set the two remaining playoff matchups, with Maccabi facing Real Madrid and Olimpia Milano going against reigning champion Anadolu Efes.
James Nunnally scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Maccabi overall while Ante Zizic posted 16 points plus seven boards of his own. Scottie Wilbekin added 14 points for the Yellows that made a 13 – 0 run in the last five minutes to get the win.
“We worked hard to be in this position,” Nunnally said. “We knew we just wanted to finish the season strong. This games tune us for the playoffs. Everything is going to help us play better. Learning where to be. We have a new system but we are learning and building step by step.”
Devin Booker scored 14 points, Ahmet Duverioglu had 12 points plus five rebounds and Ismet Akpinar dropped 10 points for Fener. Despite the absence of Jan Vesely apart from the one of Nando De Colo, the Turkish side put up a fight to at least close an otherwise disappointing season with a win.
After trailing 69 – 62 early in the final period, Fener made a 0 – 9 run to go up in the score and was ahead 73 – 75 with five minutes to play. Maccabi’s response was strong and Sasha Djordjevic’s players didn’t manage to score until a free throw by Sehmus Hazer in the very last seconds.
“I think we played excellent basketball for 38 minutes and then we rushed some shots outside our system that brought us to play a great game in those 38 minutes,” Fener coach Sasha Djordjevic.
Maccabi ended the season on a high note and now the playoff challenge is at hand.
“We won,” Maccabi coach Avi Even said. “This is the first goal that we had. We weren’t at our best, but I’m happy that we managed to squeeze the last few minutes, to bring more energy, better defense, better execution on offense. We need to learn also to win when we’re not playing great. That’s part of being a good team.”