There has been nothing regular about Holyland Hoops this season after October 7, but there is a sense of déjà vu as Maccabi Tel Aviv prepares for game 5 of its EuroLeague quarterfinal series against Panathinaikos on Tuesday night (21:15 IDT / 14:15 EDT), with the reward for the winner a spot in the Final Four in Berlin later this month.

Like last year’s EuroLeague competition, we have been blessed with three of the four series have gone to a fifth and deciding game, with Wednesday night seeing AS Monaco hosting Fenerbahçe and Barcelona hosting Olympiacos in the other game 5 clashes. Real Madrid, of course, swept Baskonia 3-0 in their quarterfinal series and booked their ticket to Berlin last week.

Like last year’s quarterfinal series, the momentum has swung between the teams, as Maccabi won game 1 away 91-87 and game 3 at home 85-83, while Panathinaikos took game 2 at home 95-79 and game 4 away 95-88. Like last year’s quarterfinal, Maccabi will be playing game 5 away from home. We know that in the 19 previous game 5s, no away team has ever won a game 5, meaning that Maccabi will need to make history in order to make it to the Final Four.

“I think that there are some players that the experience of last year will be able to help,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash said when asked about last year’s game 5 loss may help. “Of course I believe, we have to believe. “We’ve won there already [at OAKA, Panathinaikos’s home court] twice this season, both in the playoffs and the regular season. We want to do it again.

“We want to believe. We have been in the EuroLeague for enough years to know that there is a reason that game 5 goes to the home team, especially with the atmosphere which will be there. We need to stay together and from the first day I’ve said, be proud of what we’ve done, go onto the court with confidence, play our game and we’ll see what happens.”

Not only is history against Maccabi, but the Yellow & Blue will likely need to do it without its MVP-candidate, Wade Baldwin IV, who averaged 17.4 points and 4.9 assists at a Player Index Rating (PIR) of 19.1, after the star guard reinjured his hamstring in the first quarter of game 4. While Katash said that Baldwin will still go through another check to see whether he is able to play, the team will need to prepare for the scenario of being without him.

“Wade is a big party of this team,” Baldwin’s backcourt partner in crime, Lorenzo Brown, said. “It’s going to take the whole unit. His scoring, his passing ability and everything he does, will have to come from the other members of the team.”

“I think that everyone has to step up to fill the gap that is a big gap to fill,” concurred James Webb III. “He’s such a good player and so we’ve all got to find a way.”

While Maccabi started game 4 well and led after 10 minutes and at the main break, the Greeks won the second half 46-38, including a 17-4 run in the last five minutes to win by 7 points.

“Preparation is pretty much the same,” Brown said of the task ahead for game 5. “Looking at the film, it was pretty much the last few seconds of our defense. Kind of lost track of everything of the first 15 seconds we were pretty good, but after that it came down to rebounds and loose balls. I think once we take control of that the game will be pretty much ours.”

“They made a lot of last-second shots, we’ve just got to be able to finish the job on defense,” said Webb. “Lock in and when we’re up we need to figure out a way to put the game away.”

While Panathinaikos has a deep roster, the key will be stopping their stars who shone in game 4 – Kostas Sloukas (20 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal for a PIR of 32), Kendrick Nunn (27 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists for a PIR of 27) and Mathias Lessort (17 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists for a PIR of 26).

“I feel like in game 1 we did a pretty good game with Nunn [8 points], and game two as well [10 points],” Brown said of the challenge presented by Nunn. “I guess slowing him down will be a pretty big task for our defenders, that right there will be pretty much a key to the game. And maintaining Lessort down there – he’s a beast on the boards [averaging 6.75 rebounds for the series].”

“Defense – we’ve got to lock in defensively a little more,” Webb reiterated. “Slow down Nunn a little, try to keep Lessort out of the paint and off the glass. We made a few adjustments that we’re going to look at today in order to get that done.”

Can Maccabi make history on Tuesday night and make it to the Final Four of this difficult season?

“We have nothing to lose going into there, giving it our all and leaving it all there on the court,” Brown said. “Like I said, defending the whole shot clock and getting those boards and pushing the pace that we normally do will win us the game.”

“In both games 1 and 2 [in Greece] we came back, what we take mainly is that we’re a team that doesn’t break and believes in what it does,” Katash said. “We come to every game and there is a certain pressure and excitement, we need to keep it in the right place. We have players with experience. It’ll be a crazy atmosphere, we need to be prepared for it and enjoy it.”