Baselines – Maccabi Tel Aviv Shabbat Shalom Rundown: Who’s your daddy? Likes & Dislikes, Quotes, Fav Photo

Oct 8, 2021 | Holyland Hoops

Each week just as we head into Shabbat, The Sports Rabbi will bring you his finals thoughts on Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Euroleague performance wrapping up the Yellow & Blue’s game with a nice bow plus you can check out all of the other postgame articles below as well.

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Opener

I’m worried about Maccabi, I really am.

Last week I began my Baselines column with the exact opposite.

Sports are really amazing. One win one day and you’re on top of the world. One loss the next day and you are at the bottom of the pile.

Sports.

Maccabi Tel Aviv – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Maccabi played perhaps its worst home game in quite some time showing absolutely nothing. Zero. Nada. Zip. Zippo. כלום ושום דבר. There was nothing to see as Red Star just dictated play from the get go to take a quick 10-0 lead before the Yellow & Blue even came out of the dressing room and ripped off their warmups. It was as if the Serbians owned Maccabi and in fact they did.

They were Maccabi’s “Daddy” if you’re familiar with the term and if you’re not then here is the rundown.

On September 24, 2004, in the middle of a tight pennant race, the Yankees handed future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez and the Boston Red Sox a tough 6-4 loss.  Martinez went 7 1/3 innings giving up nine hits and five earned runs. The game came just five days after (in his previous start) Martinez had lasted just five frames against the Bronx Bombers (eight hits, eight earned runs) in a 16-7 loss.

Pedro Martinez

After that second loss, Martinez candidly commented, “What can I say? I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.”  Little did he know that his comment – and a Yankee fans’ chant of “Who’s your daddy?” would follow him into future starts in New York (all the way to his final MLB start – against the Yankees for the Phillies – in Game Six of the 2009 World Series.)

“… In the Dominican during the winter league, when someone has your number…in the Dominican, when you can’t beat them you normally say “who’s your dad?,”” Martinez wrote. “That’s what we say in the winter league. Because I didn’t have the exact words, I felt like they were my daddy right now…that was the terminology I used based on where I played in the winter league. But I don’t regret it, it didn’t change anything, if anything it made me better against the Yankees. Whenever I heard that chant I just turned it on,” he added. “I would strike them out and stay on top of the game. Have everybody shut up…”

Yankees fans are considered to be some of the best in sports and to take such a mundane comment to the level of how they had is tremendous. Do the Maccabi fans see Red Star and their former guard Nate Wolters as their daddy after this dominant victory? Do they see Dejan Radonjic as Ioannis Sfairpoulos’s daddy? Could be. Could very well be.

The bottom line is that Red Star were Maccabi’s daddy in every which way possible.

Likes & Dislikes

  • I liked what Mathias Lessort said after the game about the fans and how they must put on a better show if they are putting down their hard earned money to see them play.
  • I liked seeing so many fans in the stands who supported the team all the way to the bitter end of a brutal game. That is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
  • I liked the way Red Star played team basketball to perfection with back door cut, smart passes and just good all around fundamentals.
  • I liked seeing Nate Wolters play well along with Luka Mitrovic and Nikola Kalinic who are 3 players that The Sports Rabbi had interviewed.
  • I disliked that the trio above had to play well against Maccabi Tel Aviv and send the Yellow & Blue to an abysmal loss.
  • I disliked the team’s preparation for the game, a game which they had a week to get ready for as they came out flat as a pancake in what was a must win game at home against an opponent that was not as talented as them.
  • I disliked that Jake Cohen was not dressed for the game and his experience, length and good basketball sense would have been an asset as the squad struggled mightily all night long.
  • I disliked that Kameron Taylor had his rear end glued to the bench for the entire 40 minutes. Why have a foreigner dressed or even at all if he is not going to play?

Nate Wolters – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Quotes

This was his best game at Red Star – Dejan Radonjic on Nate Wolters

We played their rhythm even though we discussed it and analyzed it and said we didn’t want that to happen. I think after they got a double-digit lead we got frustrated and nervous – Ioannis Sfairopoulos

You play for the fans and have to respect the 11k that come to see you play and you have to fight for those people. When they pay for ticket you have to think about that. We have to give everything we have. They kept cheering us when we were down by 20. We will bounce back and make the fans proud – Mathias Lessort

We didn’t play any European competition in preseason and it’s not ideal. Today we let how we played offensively effected our defense with the slow tempo and put us in a funk – Angelo Caloiaro

Dov Halickman’s Favorite Photo

“That’s All Folks” Ognjen Dobric – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

On Deck

Maccabi opens up its Israeli league season on Saturday night with a home tilt against Hapoel Haifa and then they head on the road to play Milano and ASVEL in Euroleague action. This could be a very pivotal week for both Maccabi and its coach.

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