I debated whether it was even worth my time to write a column about Maccabi Tel Aviv’s pathetic 100-78 loss to Red Star Belgrade. The game was a disaster from the get-go, with the yellow-and-blue falling behind 22-5 midway through the opening quarter. And yet, here I am.

I simply couldn’t let this one go without saying something about what will go down as one of the worst losses of the Oded Katash era, if not one of the worst defeats Maccabi has suffered in this decade or even this century.

After a long election day that saw us inundated with phone calls, text messages, and even cars and trucks with loudspeakers blasting songs for the various candidates, all I wanted to do was sit on my couch and watch a good, competitive basketball game.

Apparently, that was too much to ask.

Maccabi essentially allowed Red Star to do whatever it wanted, offering little, if any, resistance. Perhaps Katash’s crew had recently revisited the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter, The Best of Both Worlds, in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard becomes part of the Borg, the crew’s arch-enemy. As Locutus of Borg, Picard delivers the now-famous message to his “Number One”: “Resistance is futile.”

That pretty much summed up Maccabi’s performance. The yellow-and-blue effectively raised the white flag and let Red Star have its way.

Whether it was Christain Koloko dominating inside, Tyson Carter doing damage from the perimeter, Jordan Nwora contributing in both areas, or Chris Jones dishing out seven assists in the first quarter alone, Maccabi had essentially surrendered after just 10 minutes of basketball. The team was never really heard from again.

One yellow-and-blue jersey after another stepped onto the court and player after player proved incapable of making any meaningful impact. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

A Defense That Simply Doesn’t Exist

Defensively, Maccabi has been unable to get anything done in the EuroLeague all season. The club now sits at 2-6, with more than 20% of the regular season already in the books, and the problems are glaring.

Its perimeter defense has been practically nonexistent, as one opponent after another has found it remarkably easy to knock down three-pointers.

Just look at the numbers:
• Red Star: 16-of-35 from three-point range
• ASVEL: 16-of-34
• Real Madrid: 21-of-40
• Panathinaikos: 15-of-39
• Besiktas: 17-of-30
• Barcelona: 11 three-pointers
• Valencia: 11 three-pointers
• Olimpia Milano: 7 three-pointers

There you have it.

That is far too many triples, but if you are the opposition, why would you ever stop shooting from deep? Just keep moving the ball to the perimeter and letting it fly. Maccabi isn’t going to stop you.

At the other end of the floor, the yellow-and-blue have their own problems from beyond the arc. Maccabi ranks 18th in three-point attempts and 13th in three-pointers made. In today’s game, the three-point shot MUST be an integral part of the offensive game plan and MUST be used as a weapon against the opposition.

Failing to make the three-pointer a priority is essentially shooting yourself in the foot. Of course, perhaps Maccabi simply doesn’t have the personnel to do it consistently, which brings us right back to the issue of roster construction.

Can Nemanja Nedovic Make a Difference?

Nemanja Nedovic has been rumored to be a potential Maccabi signing, and that speculation resurfaced last week when it emerged that Iffe Lundberg would be sidelined for a couple of months.

The 35-year-old Serbian sharpshooter is a relatively one-dimensional option at this stage of his career, but two questions need to be asked: Why is he still available and why didn’t Maccabi sign him over the summer, when his name was already being discussed?

Will Nedovic save the season? That is very difficult to believe.

Could he improve Maccabi’s outside shooting? At this point, how could it hurt?

Rebounding has also been a major problem this season. What was once a staple of Maccabi’s success, particularly on the offensive glass, has suddenly become an Achilles’ heel. The yellow-and-blue now rank 17th in rebounding, which simply isn’t good enough.

The Numbers Tell the Story

Which team has surrendered the most points in the EuroLeague this season? Take a guess.

Maccabi Tel Aviv has given up 753 points, an average of 94.1 per game, tied with Baskonia for the worst mark in the competition. Meanwhile, the yellow-and-blue are scoring just 85.8 points per contest.

Last season, Maccabi averaged 90.1 points while allowing 91.7. In the 2024-25 campaign, the team scored 85.9 points per game over 34 games while conceding 89.8.

The numbers help explain why Maccabi has failed to reach the postseason in recent years. When you struggle to defend consistently and cannot keep opponents from scoring at will, it becomes incredibly difficult to compete at this level.

General Manager Claudio Coldebella needs to take a long, hard look at this roster and start making moves. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Yesterday.

Maccabi cannot afford to carry players who are not producing or who cannot be relied upon when the team needs them most. Keaton Wallace, TJ Leaf, John DiBartolomeo, Will Rayman and Daniel Theis all need to be under the microscope as the club evaluates why things have gone so badly wrong.

This is not about pinning the entire season on individual players. It is about recognizing that the current combination simply is not working and that management must take responsibility for finding solutions.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Maccabi’s brutal start is the timing. By the end of October, roughly a quarter of the EuroLeague regular season has already been played. Getting off to a strong start is critical to putting yourself in position to compete for a playoff spot.

Management needed to ensure that the roster was properly assembled over the summer, allowing the preseason in late August and September to serve its purpose: building chemistry, establishing an identity and preparing the team to collect important wins from the outset.

Instead, Maccabi finds itself digging out of a massive hole once again.

Even if the club makes the necessary adjustments, it will have to fight its way back from the same position it found itself in last season. The lessons from that campaign’s disastrous start apparently were not learned.

The same mistakes have been repeated and the yellow-and-blue are paying the price.

Maccabi needed to make better use of the offseason, yet here we are again, watching the club struggle through the same problems that plagued it a year ago. Meanwhile, the fans’ patience is wearing thin. Very, very thin.

The Maccabi brass need to get their act together and fast, if they want to salvage this season. Every game that passes makes the climb back that much more difficult.

The Alarm Bells Are Ringing

Paris is up next, and the French side loves to shoot the three-pointer. Maccabi had better be ready, because another defensive performance like the one in Belgrade could leave the yellow-and-blue staring at a 2-7 record.

If the alarm bells have not started ringing inside the Maccabi organization yet, they certainly should be.

On Sunday, the team faces Hapoel Tel Aviv in a home derby. That will be the first of three clashes against its archrivals in November, with a Winner Cup Final derby and a EuroLeague matchup also on the schedule.

There is no time to waste. Maccabi needs to make the changes necessary to give itself a fighting chance, whether that means bringing in reinforcements, reassessing the roster, or addressing the glaring defensive issues that have undermined the team all season.

The yellow-and-blue cannot afford to keep doing the same things and expect different results.

The season is slipping away, the fans are running out of patience and the competition is not going to wait around for Maccabi to figure things out.

Make the necessary changes now, or prepare for a very, very miserable winter in Tel Aviv.