By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Wade Baldwin had arguably the top all-around performance in his EuroLeague career with 30 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and just one turnover as Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated ASVEL Villeurbanne 98 – 90 to continue its push for a spot in the playoffs.
Baldwin also drained a jumper to put Maccabi up 90 – 85 with two minutes remaining and dished out the assists to Josh Nebo for a 3-point play that gave their team an eight-point lead with 1:23 to play. ASVEL, that previously led 54 – 64 in the middle of the third period, didn’t manage to approach by a shooting distance in the rest of the match.
“We continue to find a way to win games and close games,” Baldwin said. “Get rebounds, get stops. We have guys who are committed to doing the right things. Committed to play hard when we need to. We are competing to make the Top 6 and tonight was a good push to get there.”
Bonzie Colson had 23 points while Nebo delivered 18 points plus 10 rebounds for Maccabi, now 17 – 13 and tied with Virtus Bologna at the seventh spot in the standings with four games left in the regular season.
Assuming responsibility and adapting
“It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to win,” Maccabi coach Oded Kattash said. “The pressure is on us, especially at this moment of the season. I can say as a coach that we needed some energy but I need to take responsibility regarding the fact that the game plan in the first half wasn’t the right one obviously. We changed that and the way we played defense.”
Nando De Colo led ASVEL with 18 points plus five assists. Youssoupha Fall added 17 points plus 12 rebounds and Paris Lee scored 12 as well.
“I’m proud of the guys and the way they fought,” ASVEL coach Pierric Poupet said. His team is now 7 – 23. “But it wasn’t enough. We lacked a little control of the rebound, especially in the first half. We can think that we lost it at the end when we had trouble bringing the ball up. But I think that it’s little details along the way that we have to improve on.”
ASVEL was ahead 47 – 49 at halftime and proceeded to grab a 10-point lead ( 54 – 64 ) before Maccabi erased most of it relatively quickly. The hosts completed the comeback when Colson scored for the 77 – 76 and the two teams stayed close until the last minutes.