With his job status more unstable than ever, Kattash arrived in Belgrade and tried to bring the same energy that beat Holon against Milan and its new coach, Poeta. It lasted for a half and a bit, until Maccabi collapsed and absorbed its tenth loss of the season.

I want to apologize to you, Maccabi Tel Aviv fans — I’m about to touch a sensitive nerve. Milano’s last two games illustrate the insane gap in level between Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv. It’s not heaven and earth — it’s the earth’s core and the Milky Way. Last Thursday’s game ended in a long garbage time in which the Reds toyed with the spectators in Milano’s arena, and it ended, luckily for Milano, at “only” 22 points. And now, six days later, that same Milano (reinforced by Josh Nebo) brings Maccabi to its knees after barely 30 minutes of basketball. It ended, luckily for Maccabi, at “only” 14.

Maccabi Tel Aviv gave its fans another lost evening, with a horrific 88–102 defeat to Armani Milano. Maccabi suffered a total second-half collapse, looked lost on both ends of the floor, and at times looked like the worst team in the EuroLeague. Milano, which arrived after the loss to Hapoel and the resignation of Ettore Messina, handed Giuseppe Poeta a lovely debut. Yes, Maccabi was without Leaf, Hoard and Dowtin. And still — with the sword on Kattash’s neck, Maccabi looked multiple levels below a not-so-brilliant team that simply remembered to start defending in the second half.

Peppe Poeta – Photo Credit: Euroleague

The first half was close, featuring a second — and perhaps final — episode in the “Kattash and Lonnie vs. the World” saga. Kattash came into the game as unstable as ever, after that late-night management meeting that was blown up by the fans, and which reportedly was supposed to decide his firing. Early in the game it looked like there were players on the court who cared, who wanted to protect their coach. True, Maccabi couldn’t get a defensive stop even in exchange for a new Middle East, and Zach LeDay and Shavon Shields hadn’t received such soft defense since elementary school — but Tamir Blatt contributed on offense, and Lonnie Walker simply couldn’t miss.

At certain moments in the first half we finally saw Maccabi properly use its highest-paid player, who didn’t play a second in the loss to Virtus. Walker repeatedly sought and found the switch against Nebo/Booker/Ricci, using his ball-handling and quickness to shake off defenders and get good looks, for heaven’s sake. He scored 19 points (out of his 21 — we’ll get to that) in a first half in which Maccabi even led at times, with decent minutes from Sorkin, Blatt, Rayman and Gur Lavy on the court. When they rested and were replaced by Omoruyi, Brissett and Clark, only a miracle kept Maccabi within just six at halftime, along with a faint hope that maybe something could still be done. You cannot do that “something” with this roster. The moment last week’s darling, Leandro Bolmaro, locked up Lonnie Walker and threw the key into the Belgrade stretch of the Yarkon River, the game went only one way. From 7/11 in the first half, Walker fell to 0/3 in the second half, scoring his only two points after the break from the free-throw line. Along with him, the whole team slammed on the brakes during the third quarter, giving way to Shavon Shields (26 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast) scoring at the rim and from outside, Brooks somehow reaching 20 points, and even two dunks from pre-injury Josh Nebo. Kattash’s players still led with 7:10 left in the third quarter, but from there Milan went on a 22–5 (!) run to end the period.

Photo Credit: Elad Goldstein, Maccabi Tel Aviv

An anecdote that clarifies just how historically low this yellow roster is: Oshae Brissett was having a nightmare game. After an airball, then a turnover, then a foul in the third quarter, he went to the bench. But with Leaf and Hoard out, not even four minutes passed before he returned to replace Santos, who had just committed his third offensive foul in his own nightmare game (minus-25 in +/-). Twenty-six seconds later another Brissett turnover led to a Brooks three that opened a 15-point gap and sealed the tenth loss of the season. Kattash spent the fourth quarter with folded arms as both teams traded meaningless baskets, perhaps pondering his future which may have already been sealed Sunday night. Maccabi Tel Aviv cannot hide its issues, which begin on the court and rise all the way up. Iffe Lundberg made his yellow-blue debut today: 3 points in just 8 minutes, a bit heavy on defense and very rusty. No one expected more from a player who hasn’t played basketball since June.

In a week, Maccabi will meet Zalgiris in Kaunas. The roster will likely be the same roster, with the same defense, the same softness, the same indifference, and the same mental fragility. It’s possible that by the time these lines are published, Kattash will have already joined legends like Messina and Željko in the unemployment office, and will no longer be part of the not-so-organized organization that is Maccabi Tel Aviv 2025. We won’t be surprised if in Kaunas someone else is already standing on the sidelines, because in desperate times, the only thing that may help Maccabi win in Europe is the “new coach effect.”

Oded Kattash – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman