The Rundown

Maccabi Tel Aviv dropped another Euroleague game, this time to last place Brose Bamberg 80-75. Nicolo Melli starred for the German team with 27 points and 14 rebounds, while Andrew Goudelock scored 20 points for the Yellow & Blue.

Bamberg took a 20-16 lead after the opening ten minutes thanks to fine 3-point shooting going 4/6 with five players scoring in the frame as Maodo Lo dropped 7 points. Devin Smith starred for the Yellpw & Blue early in scoring 8 points and grabbing 3 rebounds.

The visitors couldn’t miss in the second quarter as they outscored Maccabi 26-14 as Darius Miller played center stage with 10 points in the frame while Nicolo Melli raised his game total to ten points for as well. Andrew Goudelock and Colton Iverson went into the half with 8 points a piece as Maccabi went down by 16-points after 20 minutes, 46-30.

Coming out of the break Maccabi took it to Bamberg cutting the lead to 62-52 by the end of the third quarter thanks to 8 points by Goudelock and six by Weems. However, the final frame was a totally different story as Melli almost singlehandedly finished off the Yellow & Blue scoring 11 of his game high 27 points (14 rebounds as well) in the last quarter to propel the Germans to the 15-point win, 85-70 in Tel Aviv.

3-Pointers

1) Maccabi Tel Aviv had a horrific first half shooting 5/16 from the field and an abysmal 2/9 from beyond the arc. Couple that with 10 turnovers and Bamberg going 9/14 3’s the Yellow & Blue never got it going both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Not only that but Maccabi took 4:00 minutes to score their first points of the contest. Just not good enough for Europe.

2) Israeli Gal Mekel didn’t play one second against Bamberg. Not one! How is it possible that a former NBA point guard, one that came into Maccabi with a lot of promise couldn’t find the floor, especially when DJ Seely was struggling and so was Yogev Ohayon. I have been a big proponent and supporter of Rami Hadar on the issue of Mekel, defending his decision not to play him in Europe, but there has to be a point where Hadar’s got to change things up. Yesterday was that opportunity and he didn’t grab it with two hands. Too bad.

3) Sylven Landesberg played 5:45 for the game and that’s just not enough for one of the Yellow & Blue’s sharpshooters. With Hadar giving him sporadic play the Landesberg just can’t get it going. That and the fact that his teammates aren’t necessarily looking for him as he didn’t even take one shot (!) shows that there is some serious problems over here. Sunday against Haifa, Landesberg was on fire. Why couldn’t the team find a way to get him involved. Too bad #2.

Overtime

I really like Bamberg coach Andrea Trinchieri. He’s a good guy and a really good coach. Having success with Cantu in Italy and being named coach of the year for back to back season, the Italian also picked up the EuroCup coach of the year with Kazan. He was honest and entertaining in his press conference and spoke very highly of the team’s fans that travelled with the club and also about the fact that he had just beaten a European powerhouse. Oh how we all wish that was still the case.

They Said It

Guy Pnini:
“I have no explanation but it’s clear our level of energy wasn’t where it needs to be from the very start. Once you start this slow, you put yourself in a position of chasing the other team and that’s very difficult to do. We have no choice but to come back to work tomorrow and try to get out of this period as a team.”

Rami Hadar:
“A big disappointment for us. We played below our level. We played with nothing of energy. And all in all, not a decent performance. Our execution level was low. We were lacking on every level on offense. I heard the fans and I certainly understand them. During a season, there are changes in momentum and right now, we’ve hit a low. We have to find a way to get better.”

Andrea Trinchieri:
“I believe that we put together a very smart game. We were very efficient. We came from behind here after five very painful losses. But when you have a team, these things can happen. I have a team. They played as a team. Everybody was really, really important. Easy to Nicolo put together an amazing game. But everybody, even if they played one minute, gave us something. So we came here as a team and we go home with a team win.”

“We made a lot of effort and everything. And we didn’t have the result, only that was missing. When it happens one, two, three, four, five times, it’s tough. But we came here as a team. We played extremely efficient, very smart, very focused. We played through our mistakes. We had a game plan. We wanted to do things in the way we planned. And we go home with a historical win for Bamberg. To come to this place against this big, big powerhouse of traditional basketball – as you see here with all the trophies and everything – I am really, really extremely happy for my players. They were great, simply great. They didn’t think about the last five games. When you lose by one point, one point, two points, one point to the best teams in Europe, it’s hard. But I have great players and congratulations to my players.”