Maccabi Tel Aviv disgraced themselves in Turkey on Thursday as they fell behind early and often to Anadolu EFES and were in the hole by more than thirty points midway through the third quarter to ultimately lose 109-77.

Ergin Ataman’s team did as they pleased as they took apart the Yellow & Blue all over the court as EFES scored a Euroleague record 22 triples on 34 attempts for an outstanding 64.7% from beyond the arc while also going 20/30 from two as they never allowed Avi Even’s squad into the game.

Not only did Maccabi allow 3-pointers a plenty for Anadolu as they scored 109 points in one of their poorest defensive performances in their continental history, they also couldn’t force Vasilje Micic to commit one turnover. Where was the pressure and where was the defense especially on the perimeter as it was nowheres to be found.

Adrien Moerman checked in with 5/7 from downtown, Micic was 4/5 from deep, Larkin went 4/6 and even James Anderson carved Maccabi up going 3/3 add in Rodrigue Beaubois with another 3 of his own and you’ve got one mega sized disaster zone.

If the Yellow & Blue management thought it was a good idea to have the head of scouting in Avi Even or Abraham Stone as Yair Zaretzy put it on MaccabiPod on the sidelines for the rest of the season, they were sorely mistaken. Even couldn’t do a thing to stop the Turkish onslaught as Shane Larkin and Vasilje Micic couldn’t miss if they tried while the likes of James Nunnally, Derrick Williams and Jalen Reynolds don’t deserve to even wear the Yellow & Blue.

Williams who has yet to make a postseason appearance in his four years in the Euroleague and is headed towards another one with Maccabi spoke about the defeat following the shellacking, “This is a painful loss. but we can’t and we won’t keep our heads down. we have to give credit to Efes. They had a very good game and things went their way tonight from the 1st minute. We tried and we fought but it’s just wasn’t our night.”

Not quite sure whether Maccabi fans should really believe him when he says they won’t keep their heads down and there needs to an investigation put out when he says that they tried and fought. That doesn’t quite work when you are down by over thirty points in the third quarter. That is called quitting. Quitting on the team, quitting on the club, quitting on management who pays the salaries and worse yet, quitting on the fans.

Ante Zizic who scored 17 points and was unquestionably the best player on this night for Maccabi told it like it was straight and honest and to the point, “We didn’t execute our game plan tonight. On the other hand we couldn’t get enough defensive stops and their shots kept falling in. When we could get some stops, we didn’t shoot the ball good enough and couldn’t
minimize the points gap.”

No excuses and just the plain old facts.

But perhaps, Even while not much of a coach does know how to tell it like it is.

“It was a bad game for us. It was tough game against a very talented team. I think we were playing against a team that had one of the best performances in the EuroLeague this year, scoring 22 threes and at very high percentages. It is what it is. They played well. We didn’t play good enough defensively or offensively. That’s it. There’s another game on Tuesday, so we have to be ready and learn from this game.”

Tuesday Maccabi will ready for the return one of their former head coach’s in Neven Spahija with Baskonia while on Thursday night Zenit St. Petersburg is supposed to go to town but that may be pending the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine as three games with Russian teams were postponed this week.

If anyone thinks that playing at home in front of their own fans will help Maccabi to the win over Baskonia without a true blue head coach on the sidelines, they are sorely mistaken. The players see the writing on the wall for this season, a season that at 11-13 is about to fall sort for good and head to the point off no return as the players are getting closer and closer to quitting on this season while perhaps some already have.

Maccabi still have the Israeli league to play but with very little desire that too will be a lost cause. While Hapoel Jerusalem is getting stronger by signing Euroleague champion KC Rivers and will certainly try to take a run at the championship as they sit in first place, the Yellow & Blue have heir hands tied behind their backs and are doing nothing.

The club is losing the faith of their fans very quickly as every defeat continues to set the team back. Three Derby losses, no head coach, having chairman Shimon Mizrachi read a pathetic two minute prepared statement on video and not hearing from the team’s leader Scottie Wilbekin in a press setting since November can not sit well with the faithful.

Maccabi is teetering on the brink of implosion. It’s getting close and management is making it come even faster than it needs to by their actions or in some cases their inaction.