Maccabi Tel Aviv host Baskonia in Belgrade on Tuesday night (21:05) as they will look to find a way to get back onto the winning track in the front end of a double week that will see them visit Red Star on Friday night. With a 4-11 record after 15 games and in 16th place, the yellow-and-blue are in trouble to say the least in their quest for some sort of post season berth.

Baskonia hasn’t lit the world on fire this season under Head Coach Pablo Laso as they are currently 6-9 and in 14th spot as their star scorer Markus Howard has struggled mightily averaging 11.5 points after having scored 19.5 per game last year. Chima Oneke has been the club’s most dangerous scorer thus far while Tadas Sedekerskis is consistent as usual. Add in Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos who is shooting over 45% from long distance along with veteran big man Donta Hall and Euroleague newcomers Kamar Baldwin and Trent Forrest, the Spaniards are a team that can cause Oded Katash’s squad some trouble but aren’t an impossible task ahead.

“The truth is that it has almost become a fashion in the Euroleague with yet another team that is quick on the floor and shoot after just 5-6 seconds on the clock. They are a good team with one of the best scorers. This year he’s not as good as he was last season, but in any given game and at any moment he can be very aggressive and very dangerous.”

“We have had some good and bad minutes against scorers like Howard and against this style of play. We have to learn from this in order to be a little more consistent. Of course, it’s team defense that can be effective against players of this sort and beyond that they are one of the dominant teams in the offensive boards which is also something team-wise that we will have to be focused on.”

On a personal note, former Euroleague forward Janis Timma was found dead earlier today in Moscow due to an apparent suicide. The 32-year old went through a difficult divorce earlier this year after having been married in 2020 and attempted to reconcile with his ex-wife singer and actress Anna Sedokova. The break-up was thrust into the public eye with the Latvian sharing his thoughts and feelings via Instagram and accused the 42-year old Ukrainian of favoring money over love.

Obviously, this is a case where Timma could have been helped as he delved into a deep depression over his personal life which makes this a very unfortunate incident. Latvian NBA star Kristaps Korzingis went on social media and also spoke about mental health and how if one is under severe duress and has thoughts of suicide they should reach out for help.

cilvēciskā savienotība ir stūrakmens mūsu mentālajai veselībai. lūdzu pieskatam viens otru. JT vieglas smiltis ❤️@janis_timma

— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) December 17, 2024

“Human connection is the cornerstone of our mental health. Please look after each other. Rest in Peace, JT.”

After beginning his career with ASK Riga, Timma was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 60th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and tried his luck getting to the greatest league in the world with a number of Summer League stints and even played in the G-League back in 2021-22. Timma moved up the ranks as he worked his way up beginning with VTB teams in VEF Riga and Zenit Saint Petersburg before making his Euroleague debut with Baskonia in 2017-18. After one season in Spain it was off to Olympaicos for a year and then Khimki Moscow for two seasons.

In his Khimki debut, which was the 2019 season opener against Maccabi Tel Aviv, a game that The Sports Rabbi was at along with ace photographer Dov Halickman, the blonde haired, tattooed Timma came in shooting lights out with a trio of triples in the first quarter as he set the tone early on. While Alexey Shved, Anthony Gill and Jonas Jerebko closed out the matchup, it was Timma who was just a lethal assassin and couldn’t miss as he ended the contest with 17 points with five 3-pointers and 4 steals to boot. He made his mark as the yellow-and-blue struggled for most of the game with the likes of Omri Casspi, Tarik Black and Elijah Bryant leading the stat sheet that also included 10 minutes from Deni Avdija that ended in a 6-point victory by the hosts, 89-83.

In the return game, Timma scored 13 points in Khimki’s 80-77 loss in Tel Aviv against Maccabi as he notched the opening 5 points and helped the visitors to a 47-36 halftime lead, but Elijah Bryant scored the go ahead basket with under a minute to go in the clash.

That season with Khimki was by far his best campaign as a professional and one that he made the most impact averaging 12.5 points per game while going 60/160 for 37.5% from downtown. Last year Timma looked to be just hanging on as he featured with Darussafaka and Obradoiro and also played with the Latvian National Team in their Olympic and Eurobasket qualifiers.

I’ll remember Timma from my trip to Moscow where he was just unstoppable and just went off. He was always a threat from deep and any time he got the ball beyond the arc, it spelt trouble.

May he rest in peace.