Scottie Wilbekin – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Balagan Basketball

Balagan – The Hebrew word for messy, fiasco, disorderly, confusing, chaotic. Somehow Maccabi Tel Aviv pulled the old rabbit out of the hat and made a 67-50 deficit disappear in roughly one quarter of play to pull even with Hapoel Holon as regulation time came to an end. In fact, somehow, the Yellow & Blue had a chance to win on the final shot of regulation them of a game that really they had no business winning. But somehow, Ioannis Sfairopoulos threw the gameplan out of the window and went with as he called it “Balagan Basketball” to match Stefanos Dedas and somehow pulled not only the rabbit out of the hat but also an 87-85 victory. “I am proud as to how we fought and didn’t give up when the game wasn’t going well,” began Sfairopoulos. “It was important that the last 12 minutes we pressed full court and gave a huge effort, we forced them to make turnovers. Once the game went to overtime the psychology went to our side and we fought until the end. It was a heroic win and I want to congratulate my players.” The bench boss also spoke about how many different schemes he tried until he found a lineup which was a small one that finally worked. “We changed the defense 3-4 times, hedging, switching, run and jump, attack the mismatches. I tried to use the big men Othello Hunter and Ante Zizic but they were scoring from drives and kicks. We then decided to go with a small lineup to press and trap and create a balagan in order to comeback to the game.” And comeback they did. Somehow. Balagan.

Oz Blayzer – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Blazying The Way

That somehow was Oz Blayzer who played his heart out as the “big” in the small lineup that cur down a 17 point deficit in no time and also take the game right to Holon down the stretch and into overtime. “I always believe and my goal is to win titles. I came to Maccabi win titles and I will do everything that I can to do so. It didn’t matter what the gap was we were going to try our best. We pressured Holon and we played our basketball to turn around the game.” The key part of how Maccabi was able to pull off the win was actually adjusting their own game to counter that of Holon’s. Usually a team like Maccabi would play their basketball and that is what they did, but Blayzer also admitted that they had to make some critical changes just as was outlined above when Sfairopoulos just went for Balagan. “This wasn’t our usual basketball and we have to give credit to the staff for making the necessary changes because what we had been doing just wasn’t woking. We adjusted to Holon and it worked for us.”

Guy Pnini – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman

Every Mistake Possible

As for Holon, you’ve got to feel sorry for coach Stefanos Dedas and his players. They gave their hearts and held a mega lead well into the second half, but somehow the lead evaporated around Tyrus McGee, Chris Johnson, Guy Pnini, CJ Harris and Isaiah Miles. They just collapsed and once the game went into overtime it was going to get even more difficult. Holon played admirably and Dedas can be proud, but nonetheless they were eliminated in a cruel, cruel way. “I’m proud the way we played and we dominated the game against a Euroleague team with a big budget. We played our basketball until the 33rd minute and although it looked like Holon stopped to play, it’s not true. We didn’t change strategy and I didn’t change anything. We are a good team and we made our fans proud. It’s not an easy night.” Veteran sharpshooter Guy Pnini who had a tremendous game with 17 points with five 3-pointers was at a loss for words following the shock defeat, “You saw what happened. Maccabi began to press and we began to make every mistake possible. They surprised us. The snowball began and it was hard to stop it. We played really well with a short rotation but when the game went into overtime we were done. We had to respond better toter pressure.”