Maccabi Tel Aviv finally picked up a Euroleague win on Thursday when they dropped Zalgiris 95-78 as they recorded a victory for the first time since November 28th when they beat ALBA Berlin in Germany. The yellow-and-blue had lost five continental clashes in a row and hopefully getting back on the winning track will send them on their way to a better second round of Euroleague games than they had in the first when they went 4-13 in what was an abysmal showing.

Picking up the win in the first game of round two gives the team hope that they do have something to offer to both themselves and the fans who for the most part have written off this season. In reality, if Maccabi has any designs on trying to get into the Play In the would need to probably have a record of 18-16 on the season which means they would need to go an improbable 13-3 in their final 16 games. The chances of that happening is probably as close as seeing Kosher pigs flying backwards.

However, as David Blatt, the club’s Head of the Basketball Committee said earlier in the week at a special media briefing that they are not going to be giving up and they are also looking at building and setting up the roster for the upcoming season which hopefully will see games return to Yad Eliyahu in Tel Aviv in October of 2025.

Maccabi looked very good against a Zalgiris team that really looked awful and couldn’t hit the side of a barn as their star scorer in Lonnie Walker went an atrocious 1/10 from deep as the Lithuanian squad itself went 12/38 from 3-point land as nothing of significance seemed to fall for Andrea Trinchieri’s team.

Katash’s squad put in an all-around effort and played positive basketball endmost importantly had a positive attitude throughout the 40 minutes. An honest effort at this stage is what the bench boss wants to see, “Great game for us and great win,” Katash said. “We were consistent for 40 minutes which is what we were looking for, we played the right way on both sides and with the body language, after a tough week we reacted well.”

The yellow-and-blue saw terrific offensive games from Jaylen Hoard who scored 23 points along with Roman Sorkin and Rokas Jokubaitis who each had 18 points in the win, but it was not just the points scored that won this game it was the defense that Maccabi played. It was John Dibartolomeo who dogged the Zalgiris guards, it was Will Rayman who brought his usual intensity to the court and it was David DeJulius who did the same in limited minutes as well.

“We played better defense,” Sorkin astutely stated. “We wanted to respond after the loss in the domestic league. We had excuses but we can’t say them anymore. It was a good game for us and we played good on defense. We can’t celebrate too much. We are happy and we want to start off this round better. We want to look forward now and play better defense and get more Ws while still reaching our goals that we set at the start of the season.”

Above all in this game was seeing what contribution Trevion Williams, the club’s new big man was going to give to his new team as he gave Maccabi a brand new aspect and inside presence that they didn’t have over the course of the first round of play. The former ALBA center scored 12 points, grabbed 3 boards but added 4 assists and had one steal that saw him take the ball from one end of the court to the other and put in points for his new team.

Williams clogged up the paint and caused issues for the Zalgiris players inside which was something that Wenyen Gabriel was unable to do and it’s also not Jasiel Rivero’s strong point as well. Signing the 24-year old to a 1.5 year deal was a smart move and one that provides an anchor for next season.

“Everyone saw that he is a very talented offensive player,” Katash said. “As time goes by and he learns a little more about what we do and our system, he will be better. He is a very special player with a special character.”

Hoard, who shared the floor with the newcomer spoke about what he was able to see from his teammate in his debut, “I’m happy that Trevion Williams, our new player was able to get himself acclimated and he helped us a lot with his playmaking abilities and scoring as well.”

In fact, Maccabi needs to start signing both Levi Randolph and Hoard to longer deals to keep them in yellow-and-blue while Jokubaitis is already inked for the next two seasons while Tamir Blatt and Roman Sorkin will be around as well. That’s not about bad start for the 25/26 campaign, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Right now Maccabi needs to take it one game at a time in the Euroleague and try to put in the best effort that they can while also focusing on the two domestic titles that they will be in the running for, the State Cup and of course the Israeli league.

“This is a very important victory, especially after the recent period and especially after the loss in Jerusalem,” Katash commented. “We proved to ourselves that when we play the right way and with the right energy, we are a good basketball team. Hopefully we will build some confidence.”

As the saying goes, winning cures everything, well in Maccabi’s case maybe not everything, but certainly the win put a few smiles on the faces of the players, staff and perhaps most importantly the fans.