This week, Maccabi Tel Aviv played a double-week at its temporary home in Belgrade, starting with a round 6 make-up game on Tuesday night against Real Madrid, followed by the round 11 clash against ALBA Berlin on Thursday night, which the Yellow & Blue split 1-1.
It was a predictable 70-99 loss to the then-unbeaten Real (who lost to Fenerbahçe 99-100 on a game-winning Yam Madar layup in overtime). Lorenzo Brown (16 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists and 1 steal) and Josh Nebo (14points, 9 rebounds and 1 block) were the only players in double-digits for Maccabi, while Real’s depth was shown with five players in double-digits, including Eddie Tavares (19 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists), Mario Hezonja (16 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist) and Dzanan Musa (15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal).

Wade Baldwin – Photo credit:Djordje Kostic and Dragan Tesic
On Thursday night, Maccabi came away with a big, although less-than-convincing, 102-81 win over cellar-dwellers ALBA. Wade Baldwin IV (18 points, 1 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals), Bonzie Colson (17 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals) and Rafi Menco (13 points and 5 rebounds) led the scoring for Maccabi, while Gabriele Procida (22 points, 1 rebound, 1 assists and 3 steals), Thomas Thiemann (11 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals) and Justin Bean (11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocks) were in double-figures for the Germans.
Here are my thoughts from the two games.
The Good: The win
It’s difficult to find the positives to come from the loss against Real – see “The Bad” below – so let’s focus on the win against ALBA. Maccabi managed to break 100 points for the first time this season against an ALBA team which after 11 rounds is leaking on average 87.91 points per game. Although they are sitting last in the EuroLeague and were missing some key players (including the injured Ziga Samar, Streling Brown, Matt Thomas, Luis Olinde and Marcus Eriksson), this is a positive that Maccabi coach Oded Katash can take going forward.
Maccabi had a total of five players in double-digits. For Menco, it was his career-best EuroLeague game, scoring a career-high 13 points, including a perfect 3/3 from long range.
In addition to Menco and the others highlighted above, James Webb III (12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal) and Roman Sorkin (10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks) scored big for perhaps their best games of the season, with this being a season-high game in scoring for the former.
Israelis Jake Cohen (9 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist) and Tamir Blatt (9 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists) also performed strongly, with this clearly Cohen’s best game of the season (season highs for points and performance index rating (PIR) with 9) and one of the best for Blatt (the PIR of 14 only second to his 16 in round 4 against Panathinaikos).

Oded Kattash – Photo credit: Djordje Kostic and Dragan Tesic
One of the highlights as well came at the end of the game, with Omer Mayer (3 points and 1 assist) making the most of his rare court time, becoming the youngest Maccabi player to score points in the EuroLeague at 17 years and 53 days with his 3-pointer in garbage time.
“Very good win for us, we needed it and it was a really high tempo game,” Maccabi coach Oded Katash said after the game. “Offensively we shared the ball right, got good looks and scored the basketball. We had two runs [15-2 at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second quarter, as well as 10 points in a row to begin the fourth quarter] and we were focused defensively, made stops and got some easy baskets. I will take this with two hands after a tough week.
“Rafi Menco was very good and it’s not easy to be in his situation. He got his chance and scored three 3s in a row and helped us get our first run.”

Wade Baldwin – Photo Credit: Djordje Kostic and Dragan Tesic
“This was a game we had to bounce back we had a very embarrassing loss to Real Madrid and we got back to playing our way and had a little bit fun as the circumstances we are playing in are tough,” game MVP Baldwin said. “We miss our fans and we try to bring that energy as we want to continue the season as strong as we can.”
“It’s as important for us to comeback and win after what happened in the last game,” Menco said. “I am happy that we won and we were the favorites in this game and they were missing some players. But a win is a win and I am happy that everyone who played was able to contribute.”
The Bad: The loss
While the loss to Real may have been predictable, the loss was still bad. Coming off a game in which Maccabi nearly pulled off a shock victory the previous game against 2nd-placed Barcelona only to fall at the end 90-92, perhaps the only positive of the game against the Spaniards from Madrid was that the margin was kept under 30 points.
While scoring over 100 points against ALBA was good, scoring 70 points against a Real outfit which leaks on average 74.82 points per game was bad.

Lorenzo Brown – Photo Credit: Djordje Kostic and Dragan Tesic
Real got out to a 36-21 lead after 10 minutes, showing that the result could have been a lot worse for the Yellow & Blue. Maccabi managed to bring the margin back to 11 points going into the halftime break. However, as the final result indicates, Real just kept increasing their lead from then on, with a 47-29 second half giving them the 19-point win over a very disappointing Maccabi outfit.
“It’s never easy to play against Real, especially the way they played today and scored the ball like that,” Katash said. “But to beat a team like that you need to be focused for 40 minutes and we are not there. Defensively we were not aggressive enough, using fouls and we have to learn from this game.”
“It wasn’t our best game today, we didn’t come out with the right effort defensively and we had no answers,” Nebo said. “I feel like my performance doesn’t really matter if we don’t win. We have to figure out as a team how to be better going forward.”
“I guess we didn’t push ourselves enough and it happens,” Brown said. “We are in a funk right now, but next game is always important. We have to keep our eye on the next game and push each other, practice every single day and hold each other accountable, which we do for our mistakes and push each other for the positive things we do. I think we got to keep our head up as it’s a long season ahead of us.”

Lorenzo Brown – Photo Credit: Djordje Kostic and Dragan Tesic
The Ugly: The defense
While Maccabi may have split the games, the defense continues to be an issue for Katash and his crew. At one end of the standings, first-placed Real leaks 74.82 points per game. At the other end of the standings, ALBA leaks 87.91 points per game. Maccabi, while they may be scoring enough points to be competitive in most games to remain above .500 and equal with 5th spot on 6 wins and 5 losses, are struggling on the defensive end, with their opponents averaging 85.36 points. This season, this average is lower than ALBA and the 87.09 per game conceded by Anadolu Efes (5-6, equal 10th place), ASVEL Villeurbanne (2-9, 17th place). As the saying goes, “Offense wins games; defense wins championships.” Maccabi is far from being a championship team at the moment, but the way things are going right now, Maccabi may struggle to even make the play-in tournament.
Up Next: Double-week away
Maccabi now prepares for an away double-week, with games in France against ASVEL Villeurbanne on Wednesday night (21:15 IST / 14:15 EST) and then in Italy against Virtus Bologna (7-4, equal 3rd place) on Friday night (21:30 IST / 14:30 EST). No game in the EuroLeague is easy and this is especially true for Maccabi this season, with everything that’s happening back home with the war against Hamas. While it may be more difficult away from their temporary home in Belgrade next week, perhaps having fans in the stadium – albeit it hostile fans – may give the players some much-needed energy.
“We had some tough games and we just finished a double week and now we have another [double-week] against good teams away and we have to travel,” Katash said after the win over ALBA. “We will miss our temporary home here in Belgrade and we miss our fans in Tel Aviv.
“We had a tough loss to Real and the game before that we lost to Barcelona and that was a tough game. Next week will be the second double week in a row for us. We have a few days to recover and it’s not easy to play without our home crowd, we miss them. I am content that we can make some people happy in Israel.”

Rafi Menco – Photo Credit: Djordje Kostic and Dragan Tesic
Menco also spoke about home after the ALBA game: “Our heart is with the family, friends and all of the citizens of Israel. We are all experiencing difficult days and need to stay strong and united. We miss our fans and home to join them again soon.”
“The situation in Israel is tough and we miss the people,” Katash continued. “Our home court is very special and one of the best atmosphere basketball-wise, but we couldn’t have found a better place than Belgrade, the people have been very nice and very thankful.”
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