Thursday night, AS Monaco levelled their EuroLeague quarterfinal series against Maccabi Tel Aviv at one a piece with an 86-74 win at home, guaranteeing that this series will go to at least four games.

Jordan Loyd starred for the winners (33 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals), with help from Yakuba Ouattara (12 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal), Mike James (11 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists) and Elie Okobo (11 points and 2 assists). Wade Baldwin IV (17 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal) and Lorenzo Brown (16 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal) were in double-figures for the visitors.

Here are a few of my reflections from game 2.

The Good: Rebounding
Despite splitting the two games in Monaco and stealing home court advantage for the series, the result of game two had to have been disappointing for the Yellow & Blue, who had Monaco on the ropes and flabbergasted after game 1.

For game 2, Monaco made adjustments – and, more importantly, made shots – to get a crucial victory before heading to Tel Aviv for the next two games. Monaco scored 11 consecutive points to start the game start courtesy of early baskets to Ouattara and Loyd, including collectively scoring three 3-pointers without missing in the first two and a half minutes, which set the tone for the game.

Notwithstanding the slow start, Maccabi didn’t completely fade away, a positive which Maccabi coach Oded Katash took from the game.

“Everybody saw what happened, physical and aggressive, I liked what I saw we never gave up and we put in the right effort in order to win the game like game one with a different result,” Katash said. “I felt good ahead of the game and they began the game with two 3-pointers. W missed some good shots but we reacted well and I felt they were playing well. It’s tough to play such an intense game two days after we just had won. The energy we had made me proud of the players.”

One thing that should give Maccabi confidence coming back to Tel Aviv is the rebounding differential between the teams. In all of their previous encounters this season, the winning team had won the rebound count (with Maccabi winning 38-32 in game 1). While Maccabi took the L last night, they won the rebounds 40 (16 offensive and 20 defensive) to 32 (10 offensive and 22 defensive), with Josh Nebo (8 points and 7 rebounds (4 of them offensive)), Alex Poythress (7 points and 7 rebounds) and Bonzie Colson (3 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals) all putting in strong rebounding performances.

Continuing this trend by utilizing their aggression on the boards will go a long way to helping Maccabi take back the lead in this series.

The Bad: Turnovers
It’s always going to be difficult for a team to win a game when they have more turnovers than assists, which is what happened to Maccabi last night, finishing the game with 14 assists and 17 turnovers.

Turnovers were a detrimental factor to Maccabi in the first half of the season when they were hovering at .500 and it’s a factor that may be their downfall if they end up losing the series.

Ball-handling stars first and foremost with the guards and they are well aware that they need to be better than they were last night.

“They made plays we had a lot of turnovers,” Baldwin summed up the turnovers after the game. “I had four, I think Lorenzo had 4 as well. So we gave them the ball eight times, that’s unacceptable for the guard player of us. We need to control the ball more, have safe outlets, safe rebounds and really just take care of the ball, then we’ll be in good position.”

The Ugly: Technical fouls and ejections
Much has been said across social media by fans disappointed with the lopsided foul count so far in this series, with Maccabi committing a total of 57 fouls to Monaco’s 38 fouls across the two games this week. Fouls will be called when playing an aggressive brand of basketball, but the perceived uneven treatment from the referees started to take a toll on the Maccabi players and coaches last night.

While the team only had one technical foul in the first half (to Baldwin towards the end of the first quarter), they accumulated another five technical fouls in the second half: one from Oded Katash towards the end of the third quarter; one to captain John DiBartolomeo (3 points, 1 assist and 1 steal) for flopping on defense in the last minute of the third quarter; two to Hilliard in the last quarter (the second seeing him ejected with 2 technical fouls and 5 personal fouls overall); and one to Baldwin, with less than 3 minutes to go and Maccabi down 70-79, after committing a debatable defensive foul and then insinuating to the referees with hand movements that money may be somehow illicitly involved in the game.

“That’s a play that we have, ‘flash’,” Baldwin cynically said after the game when questioned about the hand gesture. “But it’s ok, it was misinterpreted. I understand the miscommunication I guess, but that’s our play – it’s called flash.”

“I think we’re just bringing out the competitiveness of this series,” Baldwin responded when asked if he thought that the team lost it near the end. “These guys over there, they’re battling, we’re battling as hard as we can and it’s just going happen. This is sports. These guys, they’re passionate about their season, we’re extremely passionate about our season. It’s a fun series, this is fun basketball. This is the best basketball that we’re going to play all year.”

There’s a question mark over whether Baldwin will be suspended for his fourth quarter antics. If he is, it will be a huge blow for Maccabi to lose their top scorer of the series, with the combo-guard averaging 18.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5 assists this week. Either way, the team will need to regroup and refocus to ensure that they can take advantage of the two games which they will play in front of their fans in Tel Aviv next week.

Up Next: Games 3 and 4 in Tel Aviv
The teams will now have the opportunity to rest and prepare for a few days after two physical encounters over the last week, with games 3 and 4 to be played in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and Thursday (both at 21:05 IDT / 14:05 EDT).

“It won’t be easy and we have a couple of days to rest up and I promise that there will be aggressive games in Tel Aviv,” Katash said of the games ahead.

Maccabi will be looking forward to playing in front of packed arenas, with crowds of upwards of 11,000 expected for each game.

“We are very good at home and also away, but at home you see our record,” Roman Sorkin (5 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks) said. “Our fans come with us everywhere and will give us the push, especially at home, but we need to play aggressive and focused and hungry and try to win the series.”

It’s going to be a challenge for Monaco, but they finished fourth after the regular season and they will look to build on their success in game 2.

“It’s funny, because I love playing in Israel,” Loyd, who played with Hapoel Eilat during the 2017-18 season. “I love going to Maccabi’s gym and playing, ever since I was in Eilat. I used to love going there and playing there. I’m sure they won’t be too fond of us now when we get there, but for me it’s exciting. I love it, I love being on the road, ‘road warriors’ is kind of my thing, so you just have to embrace it.”
“Focus, we have to be focused, blackout every noise, everything that they’re going to throw at us, because they’re going to throw at us, we have to focus, that’s all.” John Brown (2 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist) said of his team’s upcoming road trip. “We have to be [mentally ready], we have no choice.”