The Israel Olympic Gold medalists were the house and their heroics rubbed off once again on Scottie Wilbekin who just seems to thrive when the game is on the line.

The Yellow & Blue’s first Euroleague game didn’t exactly work out the way that Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos most probably envisioned it after three preseason contests that saw many players sharing the scoring load and not just Scottie Wilbekin, but as they say, a win is a win.

As much as Maccabi would have liked to have seen Keenan Evans, James Nunnally and Jalen Reynolds rack up the points, it was Scottie Wilbekin once again that led the club to the 69-68 victory with 28 points, 13 of which that came in the final frame that saw the team score a total of 15 points to snatch the win that looked to be going Bayern Munich’s way after building up a sizable advantage.

3-pointers, floaters and free throws, it didn’t matter how, Wilbekin scored them to lead his team to the win.

Maccabi weren’t supposed to have to rely on Scottie to pull them out of the fire which is something he has had to do season after season and year after year, but that’s what went down in game one of the Euroleague season.

Wilbekin got off to a terrific start with 13 points in roughly 13 minutes as the star guard scored at will in what looked to be an eventual Maccabi blowout win as the Yellow & Blue moved their advantage early on to 16 points to the good. However, Bayern Munich made some changes and stymied the hosts all the way until the middle of the final frame when Wilbekin began his onslaught of points by nailing an off balance 3-pointer that he had no business hitting in this lifetime, but he did.

From there is was all Scottie with points from deep, points off the glass and points from the free throw line to seal the victory that shall we say was a mist win and one that coach Sfairopoulos was pressure packed, “It’s now easy to win the opening game as the home team is always under pressure to win the first game. We started with a lot of enthusiasm and we started the second quarter excellent as they didn’t score any points while we scored in many different ways but this wasn’t the real picture of the game.”

It certainly wasn’t the picture of the game that’s for sure as Bayern Munich went on to a 28-5 run from midway in the second quarter until midway in the third frame.

“They changed their defense and switched in the middle of the second quarter,” Sfairopoulos explained. “It takes time for the players to understand how to play this type of style. You need great communication on the court and we still need to find the solutions.”

it’s still early, very, very early in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s season due to the fact that a number of players were out due to contacting COVID-19. But they did what they had to do which was find a way to win by hook or by crook.

“We aren’t in our best game shape because of the problems we had,” Sfairopoulos continued. “But I don’t want to look for excuses. We beat a playoff team with a lot of experienced players but they also had players missing.”

Bayern played an excellent game and so well did the play that their coach Andrea Trinchieri didn’t even want to look at the game as a defeat.

“We played with great personality and that is the only way to play against Maccabi here. I believed that we could win and I don’t feel beaten. Congrats to Maccabi and Ioannis and the crowd, they were a factor and Scottie. We will try to do better but I go home with a lot of confidence. We adapted during the game and we played to win. This loss has a different taste.”

As the Bayern coach indicated, the fans and of course Scottie played a huge factor in the win.

“Scottie is one of the best players in Europe,” Derrick Williams who made his Maccabi debut said. “He can score on anyone and can score in many ways.You’ll see a lot this season from him. We are all 1-0 and we want to take it game by game.”

Another newcomer to the squad James Nunnally agreed with his teammates view, “Every win is important, every game is important. We want to win them all. Just getting a good start in the EuroLeague, 1-0 at home, it definitely feels good. The defense got us the win. We just locked up in the end. On offense, Scottie was going, but that was about it. Nothing else was going, we couldn’t find our shots or hit them. But we locked in and started playing better defense, communicating more and that’s what got us the win.”

The defense was certainly key in the victory explained the Yellow & Blue captain Dibartolomeo, “Scottie took over at the end and the defensive stops helped us as well. We don’t always want to rely on it Scottie. Our focus is defensively and we have a lot of weapons on defense and obviously we want to score points.”

The bottom line is that Scottie is still Scottie and he’s going to be your go to guy especially down the stretch.

“Scottie stepped up and showed his big basketball character but I expect all the players to play more crucial roles,” Sfairopoulos said.

Wilbekin himself looked to credit the 12,000 fans strong that Yad Eliyahu welcomed back since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, ”It feels great. I really didn’t want to lose the first game – with all the fans being here and the great start we had, probably because of the fans. I’m just happy we were able to pull through and get the win.”

“This was an amazing game after two tough years,” Trincheiri said. “To see the crowd like this was a big thing, I have goosebumps.”

His counterpart for the evening, Ioannis Sfairopoulos also sung the fans praises, “I’m happy how the fans supported us and how they gave an effort for the win. We expect them again for our next home game. This was a tough win and an important win. We showed that we are Maccabi and that we will never give up.”

And they never did give up playing every possession to its fullest and not handing out any charity, “We changed the momentum after our timeouts and we held them to only ten points in the last quarter which was the main reason we came back along with Scottie’s baskets. Scottie showed he’s our leader. Winning or losing I would say we have to improve and we are a new team with players who did a good job in their first game.”

One down, 33 to go. Maccabi got off to the start they needed and a win is a win. 1-0 and on to Red Star Belgrade next Thursday at home once again.