Maccabi Tel Aviv tips off at ALBA Berlin Thursday (9pm) in Euroleague action as the yellow-and-blue will look to get back onto the winning track after having lost four continental clashes in a row dropping their record to 3-8 on the season. In fact, the last time Oded Katash’s team picked up a win was on October 31st when they defeated 79-78 and that was with guard Saben Lee who was released last week and returned to Manisa in Turkey after he did not want to come to Israel due to the security situation.

Katash’s crew has not had an easy time this year from top to bottom between injuries, Jordan Loyd departing and having a thin squad has left Maccabi in a position that with a loss to ALBA they could find themselves in the basement of the league standings. Yes, you read right; last place.

However, that situation is unlikely due to Israel Gonzalez’s team’s lack of players due to injuries as they will most probably be without Matt Thomas, Justin Bean, Will McDowell-White and perhaps even Louis Olinde and Martin Hermannsson. On the plus side recently signed center David McCormack might already play and be in the lineup after moving from Milano.

But even with a win that would push their record to 4-8, a double week in Serbia against Paris and Barcelona awaits the yellow-and-blue and both teams will give Maccabi plenty of problems and at this point Katash is looking at a very, very long and dark winter in front of him.

“We want to be ready for what will be a very important game,” the bench boss began. “This is Alba, a team that can run very fast and plays with a lot of movement. They are a good offensive rebounding team and we have to be focused all the time. It’s not going to be easy, we’re not at our peak, neither in terms of the players that we’re missing nor in terms of the process we’re going through with players who are just joining the team. There are no easy games and we have to be very focused to win.”

Katash knows that right now he is dealing with a very delicate squad and one that can come part at any moment should the momentum turn against them. The third quarter has been tough as the opposition has been able to get on a significant run and just pick a part Maccabi as the snowball just picks up speed and more speed rolling down a steep hill. He’s got to figure out how to stop that momentum so it doesn’t tear them totally apart.

Roman Sorkin who joined the team in Berlin after helping the Israel National Team win a pair of games against Ukraine in Latvia was in an upbeat mood and hopefully for Maccabi that will filter through the rest of the team as well, “It’s fun to see the guys after I came back from the national team. We’re ready, I rested a bit and we’ll have to get an important win for us. We need to continue playing our game, be better on defense and at the end of the day listen to the professional staff and come out with a win, that’s the most important thing.”

Sorkin is correct, winning at the end of the day is the name of the game and Maccabi needs one badly before they head back to Israel for a Saturday night matchup against Maccabi Ramat Gan and then yet another Euroleague double week at their home away from home in Serbia.

The question is can 15th place Maccabi Tel Aviv find a way to get back into the race for a Play In spot? If they have designs on that, they are currently 2 games behind Real Madrid who are in 10th place at 5-6, while Red Star and Milano who are in 11th and 12th respectively have the exact same record as the standings are packed, packed up.

But before they can even think of the Play In at this stage, Maccabi needs to take it game by game and take care of business against ALBA.

“They are a pretty fast paced team up there with Paris,” point guard David DeJulius said. “We have to stop them in transition on misses and be the first one out and from there build out our defense in the half court. The key to the game will be our momentum, play together on both ends we have to be the hardest playing team each and every night.”

And that’s something that Maccabi must be with the state of their roster right now. If they want to turn around their fortunes and fast they need to leave everything on the court or else they will be facing a very depressing holiday season ahead.