Maccabi were bad. Actually, Maccabi were very, very bad. Maccabi were awful.

Anyways you get the picture, there are a multitude of adjectives to describe how Maccabi Tel Aviv played against Bayern Munich in a 70-52 loss.

52 points, a Euroleague low for Maccabi.

5 assists another disastrous offensive statistic.

3/18 (16.7%) from beyond the arc.

14 turnovers.

Just one player in double digits.

Bottom line, it was not a good result, was it?

After Maccabi’s win over Zalgiris in Lithuania where they couldn’t miss from deep, where they played one of their best offensive games and where they looked like the top of the top, interim coach Avi Even and his squad came tumbling back down to earth and to their harsh reality. A reality that says they are what their record says they are.

10-12 and in 12th place. Just not good enough to be considered a playoff team and just not bad enough to totally discount the idea, but getting closer with 12 games to go in the campaign.

Following Tuesday’s win, which was Maccabi’s third Euroleague conquest in a row, the club was flying high as they came to within just one win of .500 something that just a month ago seemed so, so far away while in the midst of an 8-game losing streak. But after the unplanned COVID-19 break that claimed a number of players and the majority of the coaching staff including head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos, the three wins in a row all of a sudden gave Maccabi and their faithful hope. However, the loss to Bayern exposed all of the Yellow & Blue’s faults and issues that have plagued them for the majority of the season.

Derrick Williams was nowhere to be found on the offensive end with 3 points on 1/7 shooting, James Nunnally reverted back to the James Nunnally of old with 4 points in 32 minutes, Angelo Caloiaro was up to his old tricks with 0 points in 9 minutes while Keenan Evans had a game that he would like to quickly forget after putting up a goose egg in 21 minutes.

The centers Ante Zizic and Jalen Reynolds combined for 14 points which was way off of their average plus the latter as usual was suspect on defense while John Dibartolomeo was quiet with just 2 points in 10+ minutes of play.

Other than Scottie Wilbekin who had a game high 20 points the only other bright spots were Iftach Ziv’s 4 points in 8 minutes and Khyri Thomas who played stellar defense and scored his first points for Maccabi. But other than that there was nothing going on for Maccabi at all.

And yet, they were only down by a point, 30-29 at halftime. Somehow the basketball Gods smiled down on them from above and have them a chance to stay in the game. But when they came out as flat as a pancake in the second half and Bayern began scoring at will, the game was over especially when Wilbekin went off near the end of the third quarter and the Germans scored and scored and scored.

“It wasn’t our night from top to bottom,” Evans explained. “We didn’t get into the flow of our game. Second half we lost our confidence and completely got out from our game plan.”

Maccabi can’t look the way they did against Bayern when they head up to Hapoel Galil Elyon for a State Cup quarterfinal duel or when they welcome CSKA Moscow next Thursday.

Will the return of Ioannis Sfairopoulos on the sidelines make a difference? Perhaps. But the biggest difference must be the players on the floor and how they play the games at hand. They’ve got to win both or else they can kiss the State Cup goodbye as well as the Euroleague playoffs. Maccabi’s margin of error is 0 against Galil Elyon and close to that when they play CSKA should they have any designs on postseason play.

How much damage this loss at Bayern incurred on Maccabi’s confidence we shall see in just a few days, but the damage needs to be minimal if they want to still hit the goals they have remaining for this season.

It won’t be easy to get over this hurdle especially when they’ll look back and see how much more they could have done and how much better they could have played at Bayern. Sure Andrea Trinchieri had his team playing extremely good defense, but a good offense should have been able to breakthrough on numerous occasions and Maccabi’s just couldn’t.

“We can’t win against a good team like Bayern playing such poor offense,” Calaoiro said. “We need to think why we came out flat tonight and bounce back quickly. We have a Cup knockout game on Monday.”

Bounce back they must and quickly as they head up to the Galilee for the second time this season. Last time around they came oh so close to being nipped at the finish line which is not the situation they want to see themselves in on Monday.

So as hard as it may be for the team, the fans, the players and the staff, Maccabi has got to let go very, very quickly and focus on the next task at home in order that they not get caught up in another downward spiral.

Their mental fortitude will be tested no doubt and if they have any deigns on keeping their hopes alive they really have no choice but to win.