Maccabi Tel Aviv missed another opportunity to take a W in a winnable road game on Friday night, losing in Italy to Virtus Segafredo Bologna 78-73. Miloš Teodosić (15 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists), Daniel Hackett (15 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist) and Tornike Shengelia (12 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist) led the scoring for the hosts, while Lorenzo Brown (18 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists), Josh Nebo (11 points 10 rebounds and 1 assist) and Bonzie Colson (10 points and 6 rebounds) let the way for the visitors.
Here are a few of my reflections from the round 13 clash.

The Good: The Israelis
It was great seeing all dressed Israelis (Guy Pnini sat on the sidelines) contributing during the game, with a combined 17 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and only 1 turnover in a total of 59 and a half minutes from Roman Sorkin (7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists), Jake Cohen (7 points and 2 rebounds), John DiBartolomeo (3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal), Iftach Ziv (2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal) and Rafi Menco (2 rebounds).

Numbers-wise it may not be the most-impressive stats line, but it was particularly nice to see Cohen – start for the second consecutive game – and Iftach Ziv, who had a season high 7:09, make meaningful contributions to the team.

With Alex Poythress our for an extended period and Wade Baldwin IV out for the short-term, coach Oded Katash will need to continue to rely on more minutes from his bench. Cohen and Ziv have been taking their opportunities of late – both in the EuroLeague and in the Winner League – and hopefully each can continue to make his case for minutes on the parquet, even when Maccabi is at full strength.

The Bad: Fouls
Over the course of the game, Maccabi caused 30 fouls and drew only 18 fouls. The fouls were partly due to Maccabi’s overly-aggressive defense, but it was also due to the experience on the other end of the court from the likes of Teodosić and Shengelia, who each drew 6 fouls for Bologna throughout the game.

Particularly troubling for Maccabi was that Jarrell Martin (6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks) had 3 fouls less than 15 minutes into the game and Jalen Adams (9 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal) had 4 fouls less than 18 minutes into the game. Both of these players have been playing extra minutes due to the injuries of Poythress and Baldwin, but they were severely limited – and Oded Katash had to rely on more players – due to their foul trouble.

When you also look at the free throws – Bologna went to the line 32 times for 27 points, whereas Maccabi made 10 of only 11 free throw opportunities – it’s clear that this was one of the areas in which Maccabi was beaten convincingly.

The Ugly: The last quarter
The last quarter – or more specifically, the last 4 minutes – was disastrous for Maccabi. The visitors came into the final frame leading 60-57, a lead which they stretched to 66-59 with just under 5 minutes to go in the game. From then it was a dramatic turnaround, through coach Sergio Scariolo implementing a box-and-one defense – which dramatically restricted Brown’s play and totally stumped Katash – and Bologna turned that defense into offense, going on a 13-0 run from the moment Daniel Hackett (15 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists) scored a field goal 6 minutes into the quarter until Mam Jaiteh (7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals) scored a free throw to put Bologna up 72-66 with 50 seconds left in the game.

“It’s bad to lose a game like that in the end, with their [Bologna’s] run in the end,” Katash said after the game. “In a way, they changed their defense, they played a box-and-one, they put a lot of pressure on Lorenzo. We tried to talk about it, we were ready for it – as much as you can in 2-3 days – we missed 2-3 open shots in crucial moments and then it feels like we lost confidence in a way. But it’s something that we can learn, and be better next time we face the same situation.”

Nebo had similar sentiments post-game: “I think we have to be able to execute better. I think the last few minutes of the game, we turned the ball over twice in a row and gave them easy points. In a close game like that, we need to be able to execute. Even if we don’t make the shot, at least be able to get a shot on the rim, so that we can have transition defense. But when we turn the ball over and they run, then it’s hard.”

Up Next: Hapoel Gilboa/Galil and ALBA Berlin away
Maccabi returns to Israel for local league action on Monday night (21:00 Israel/14:00 EST) to play against Rani Hadar’s Hapoel Gilboa/Galil away at Gan Ner. These two teams last met in the quarter-final of the Winner Cup pre-season competition, in a 85-75 win to Maccabi. Maccabi now sits in 3rd spot on the Winner League table with 6 wins from 8 games, while Gilboa/Galil are at the bottom of the table with a dismal 2 wins from 9 games. Although one may think that this is a certainty for Maccabi, after consecutive home losses to Hapoel Jerusalem (75-80) and Bnei Herzliya (93-98), no win is assured.

Maccabi then travel to Berlin for a Thursday night clash (21:00 Israel/14:00 EST) against ALBA Berlin and their two Sabras, ex-Maccabi player Yovel Zoosman and Tamir Blatt. Maccabi is sitting in 8th place in the Euroleague standings with a .500 record after 14 rounds, while ALBA is sitting dead-last at 3 wins and 11 losses (with 11 consecutive losses after starting the season with 3 consecutive wins). No game in the Euroleague is easy – and with away wins hard to come by, Katash will really want to get his players prepared for another winnable game on the road.