There were plenty of heroes for Maccabi Tel Aviv in their 75-71 win over Panathinaikos. Just look up and down the stat sheet and you can easily find no less than half a dozen players who without their contribution to the cause the yellow-and-blue probably wouldn’t have take home the victory.

Tamir Blatt was superb from long distance going 5/6 from beyond the arc, Iffe Lundberg’s poise and calm, cool, collected leadership down the stretch along with his free throws closed out the win, Roman Sorkin’s scoring and rebounding were key to the victory while Oshae Brissett’s stifling defense in the final frame helped keep Ergin Ataman’s charges in check.

The list goes on and on because if Maccabi want to have any chance to find a way into the Play In, everybody has to be a part of the action and a component to the team that right now has a number of players out of action and on the shelf with injuries including arguably their most dangerous and potent player in Lonnie Walker as well as captain John Dibartolomeo.

But above all the players who contributed to the win over the Greeks, it was Will Rayman who perhaps made the most important and critical play in the win, a play that wasn’t even with the ball. It wasn’t a rebound and it wasn’t a shot, it wasn’t a basket and it wasn’t a steal.

It was plain and simply a brilliant baketeball play that only Will Rayman could have pulled off.

And that’s why Everybody Loves Rayman.

The naturalized forward has continuously worked his way up the Israeli basketball leader with hard work, a ton of effort and most importantly plenty of elbow grease. He may not make the sexiest plays but boy does he have a nose for the necessary.

With 2:33 left in the fourth quarter, Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos cut the Maccabi lead down to 71-68 and it looked as if Panathinaikos was getting closer and closer to tying the game up or perhaps even taking the lead. Lundberg turned over the ball and then committed a foul with 2:07 to go and handed the ball back to the visitors with a yellow-and-blue stop an absolute necessity at this point in order to stay in front.

With that, Oded Katash decided to substitute out Blatt and bring in one of his better defenders and also the team’s best instigator in a game that saw plenty of gamesmanship by the PAO bench boss Ergin Ataman.

Will Rayman entered the fray and went directly towards the aforementioned Rogkavopoulos and within seconds drew what was a game changing offensive foul as the Greek forward committed the cardinal sin of giving Rayman a good enough shove that sent the Israeli to the floor and that was that.

Maccabi ball, Lundberg draws a foul, hits a pair of free throws to give Maccabi a 5-point lead and despite a Rogkavopoulos triple with 1:37 left to pull to within 73-71, that would be it for Panathinaikos as they shots blanks the rest of the way and Katash with perhaps his best substitution of the game closed out the win.

“It’s like in football when you bring on a player and he scores within ten seconds,” Katash said with a huge ear to ear smile on his face, of the Rayman substitution. “The process Rayman is going through is amazing. He’s always there, he’s one of our anchors in terms of energy and his development. He drew the right foul, grabs the offensive rebounds.”

“But he’s developed beyond that as well and he’s added a lot to his game. He knows where to be, defensively he’s in the right spots, knows how to use fouls, has improved his shooting and he’s becoming a complete basketball player. I love him.”

Those are quite the compliments and while Katash always speaks highly of his players, one couldn’t ignore the amount of enthusiasm and pride the bench boss oozed when he spoke about Rayman.

Following the game, Rayman opened up about what it was like being a part of such an incredible game, “Man, it was a movie today. The fans, everything. Guys came with energy. So much fun to play. These are the games you play for, man. That was an awesome game.”

The 28-year old New York native then turned to talk about the play of the game, “I saw the guy getting defended (the inbounded), and I saw Rogkavopoulos just sprinting. So I was like, okay, if I’m with him all the way, I know he’s going to have to push out. So I just kind of waited for him and then I knew he was going to do that. That was it. But yeah, my whole time here, I’ve just tried to make the most of any playing time I get and try to help us win. So I’m happy. I’m happy about that call.”

Rayman attended Colgate University and turned professional in 2020 when he played in Estonia, Germany and Latvia over the course of two years before arriving in Israel in time for the 2021-22 campaign where he signed with Hapoel Haifa. Up by the Carmel Mountain he averaged roughly 9 points and 5 rebounds a game during two seasons for the reds before signing a deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv that saw him loaned out to Saint Quentin in the French top league.

After a season abroad, Rayman earned a rotation spot with the yellow-and-blue last season and quickly became a fan favorite leading him into a much more critical role this season where he has been an important cog in Oded Katash’s squad.

“I guess my career’s been kind of crazy,” Rayman said. “It’s been kind of an all-in play. But I’m happy with the way I’ve been developing and I’m happy to be part of this place. I love this team, and I just want to help us win.”

Maccabi moved to 10-14 with the win and the Play In is still a goal despite there being a number of teams in front of the Israeli side. However, there is a lot of belief that the yellow-and-blue will be able to do what they need to in order to slip into the postseason and if that happens, well the sky’s the limit.

“We’re going game by game and we’re winning close games now. At the start of the year, we were losing these close games. Obviously the fans help a lot with that, playing at home. At home, I like our odds a lot. We have a big game on Sunday in the Israeli league to build that momentum and I’m hoping we can put a couple more together, because we’ll be right there.”

When Rayman arrived back in Israel after the summer, it was clear that he would be a very important figure in the team’s future especially after forward and fellow naturalized Israeli Jake Cohen decided to retire. Maccabi is one of the great clubs and Rayman is well aware that he can continue to make an impact with the yellow-and-blue just as other Israeli-Americans have done in including the captain, John Dibartolomeo.

“I look up to him,” Rayman said of John D. “I look up to Jake and I want to stay here as long as a I can. I love everything about Maccabi, the history, I I really do. It’s been a really good time.”