Lonnie Walker answered all of the critics including yours truly when he put on one of the best performances any Maccabi Tel Aviv player had had this season. The Million Dollar Man was absolutely tremendous in the yellow-and-blue’s 103-89 victory over Anadolu EFES at the home away from home in Belgrade.

Walker’s 25 points while going a terrific 5/7 from beyond the arc helped Oded Katash’s team to yet another win that inched them even closer to the Euroleague’s postseason and a spot in the Play In. Now two games over .500 with a record of 18-16, what has become of Maccabi Tel Aviv is nothing less then heroic as they are breathing fire onto the necks of both Red Star Belgrade and Monaco who each have 19 wins and find themselves in 9th and the final Play In slot in 10th place just in front of the yellow-and-blue.

After a streak of some brutal games in which other players stepped up to bring home the wins as war raged on, Walker put in a performance of the ages and one that seemed to finally right his own ship.

In the three games prior to facing Pablo Laso’s side, Walker was a pitiful 1/18 from the field. Yes, you read right, 1/18. However, Walker came out with a chip on his shoulder and an understanding that, he and no else needed to lead they version of Maccabi Tel Aviv to the victory and that’s what he did.

How about going 3/6 from two and 5/7 from three to go along with 4/4 from the charity stripe for a tidy 25 points? Not bad, not bad at all.

Walker did what he was brought in to do, score and play winning basketball and that’s exactly what he did.

He was very well aware that he had not lived up to expectations that both the club and the fans had for Maccabi’s most expensive players and he was set to change that and put an end to that narrative. Walker made sure to put that version of himself away and into the cobwebs of history.

“Just being aggressive,” Walker said was the key get back into the groove after the win. “These last three, four games, I’ve been far from myself. Understanding that teams are doubling me, there’s not much help defense when it comes to teams guarding me. So just adjusting to that aspect, understanding that even if the ball’s not going in the hoop, I can be an impact on the defensive side, making the right reads, making the right passes and trusting my teammates.”

What Maccabi got was vintage Walker, this was the player that they had signed prior to the season. This was the player that they had excepted to see game in and game out. This was the player that the yellow-and-blue knew could be a star of stars and take Oded Katash’s team to the promised land of the postseason.

Maccabi had a brutal start to the season, nothing was going the right was as the losses piled up and they tumbled down the standings. There was talk to change things up and begin remaking the roster as Iffe Lundberg was brought in to steady the ship, which he did. But Walker was just an enigma with the former Spurs, Lakers, Nets and 76ers man being consistently inconsistent game in and game out with no one truly knowing what he would bring to the table.

But Walker brought it all against EFES and just at the right time to lead Maccabi to the win to keep them right in the mix for a Play In spot, “I was feeling good in the first half despite having two fouls, so I knew going into that third quarter it was time to light it up.”

Light it up Walker did by scoring 15 points in the second half of the game and guide Maccabi to the 14-point win. In fact, the last time he scored at least 20 points was back in December 2025 when the yellow-and-blue walloped Partizan Belgrade 112-87 in a game that wasn’t even that close.

Perhaps the shoulder injury that kept Walker out of ten of the last 15 games is behind him and it’s 100000% ahead for the swingman.

“Even when we were 3-10, I believed we would be in this position now,” Walker said. “We’re a dangerous team and I think a lot of teams realize that. It’s up to us to decide how bad do we want it and just play Maccabi basketball.”

When talking about Maccabi basketball, it’s not just Walker but every single player on the roster who needs to step up and play that style of hoops to do what was unfathomable by many just a few short months ago. There should be no reason why Maccabi can’t find s way into the Play In with just four games to go.

“Everybody on the team is very dangerous, offensively and defensively. Collectively as a team, we’ve just got to get closer, communicate more and move with aggression. When we play the way we did in that third and fourth quarter, decisive, playing with intent, playing physical, there’s really not many teams that can compete with us.”