By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Wade Baldwin scored all of his 21 points in the second half, while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assists to lead Maccabi Tel Aviv to a 78 – 70 win over AS Monaco after coming back from down 19. This was the first EuroLeague loss this season for the Monegasque side after a 2-0 start.
“About his thoughts near the end of the game: “Just get stops and rebounds,” Baldwin said.
“Monaco’s team is their team. They went to Game 5 last season and added great pieces. Just stops and rebounds – the keys for us to win games. Our defensive pressure picked up. Everybody accepted the challenge one-on-one. Offensively we found a groove. We found a lineup that was making shots, able to make plays. And our effort was key.”
Monaco was up 23 – 42 with two minutes to play in the second quarter, mostly thanks to Jordan Loyd who scored 17 points out of his 21 points in the first half. Maccabi vastly improved its defense after the break to cut the margin and then everything turned upside down. Oded Kattash’s players unleashed their biggest counterattack when they made a 15-0 run to transform a 46 – 59 deficit into a 61 – 59 lead.
Baldwin pushed his opponents momentarily reclaimed the advantage and pup up five consecutive points as Maccabi went ahead 72 – 68 with 43 seconds to play. Monaco found a wide open 3-pointer with Jaron Blossongame but he was off target and then Alpha Diallo went 0-2 from the free-throw line after the offensive rebound.
On the other end, Bonzie Colson hit a pair of free throws and his team remained safe for the rest of the match.
Lorenzo Brown (13 points, seven assists and seven rebounds) and Roman Sorkin (10 points, nine rebounds) contributed on both ends to help Maccabi get the win.
Apart from Loyd, Mike James (15 points on 6-18 shots) was the only other Monaco player to score in double figures. “Congrats to Maccabi,” Monaco coach Sasa Obradovic said. “I think they deserved to win. It’s not easy to explain the way we lost, the second half. Not just the way we lost the game but the way we played. When you play this kind of game, in the EuroLeague, there are not supposed to be any kind of excuse not to give or not to show the right face. You can lose to Maccabi in Tel Aviv. They are a great team and they will show this with time.”
A spectacular second-half defense
Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Oded Kattash commended his players for not giving up after falling behind with 19 points and shutting down Monaco after the break.
I told the players the first half wasn’t that bad. We missed some shots, but we kept fighting. We had a great defense in the second half. We kept them to 28 points with the quality that they have, that’s really special. I’m very happy, first of all for the fans – maybe the best atmosphere in Europe, but the players showed some heart. And I like that. We showed character, so that means we have it. We talked at halftime and said just keep playing the right way. Don’t worry about missing shots, missing layups like the first half. Just keep fighting, and I’m really proud of this team.”