{"id":193898,"date":"2026-10-16T07:14:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T07:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=193898"},"modified":"2026-10-16T07:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T07:14:47","slug":"more-than-a-win-maccabi-tel-aviv-takes-a-meaningful-step-forward-in-valencia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/more-than-a-win-maccabi-tel-aviv-takes-a-meaningful-step-forward-in-valencia\/","title":{"rendered":"More Than a Win: Maccabi Tel Aviv Takes a Meaningful Step Forward in Valencia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even if we take the final 30 seconds of last night\u2019s game at Valencia\u2019s arena into account (and we don\u2019t necessarily have to), one thing still needs to be said: Maccabi Tel Aviv deserved its win over the Spanish side in orange. It\u2019s an achievement shared by only one other team, reigning champion Olympiacos. Beyond the victory itself, this was also the first time I\u2019ve seen the yellow-and-blue show some semblance of quality in its rotation, with the exception of power forward. That depth was crucial against a high-octane team like Valencia.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, Oded Katash\u2019s squad remains several zip codes away from the two teams mentioned above, but last night Maccabi took a significant step forward. For the first time this season, it looked a top-tier EuroLeague opponent in the eye and managed, even if only in stretches, to be the better team.
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Yam Madar – Phtoto credit: Migiel Angel Polo<\/p><\/div>
\nIn stark contrast to Dimitris Itoudis\u2019 approach two weeks ago, Katash decided to play on Valencia\u2019s home court in the first half, in every sense of the phrase. Both teams came out fast and aggressive, with few reservations about letting fly from beyond the arc, no small feat for the yellow-and-blue. Valencia gave Maccabi plenty of clean looks and the visitors fully embraced the hosts\u2019 up-tempo identity. It was not a bad idea, either. As of last night, Valencia was the highest-scoring team in Europe, shooting at an excellent clip and boasting a 4-1 record, the exact opposite of Maccabi\u2019s start to the season.<\/p>\n

In the first quarter, Maccabi genuinely played Valencia-style basketball and it worked. Yam Madar cleverly shifted the focus of the offense inside and outside, time and again, much like TJ Shorts does so well. Maccabi\u2019s guard opened the game with seven straight points and carved up the defense almost single-handedly. Roman Sorkin, Jimmy Clark and Bonzie Colson were right there with him, patiently waiting for their opportunities and knocking down open threes, just as Valencia\u2019s Jaime Pradilla, Nate Reuvers and Nikola Mirotic were doing on the other end. Oshae Brissett, meanwhile, waited for his teammates to find him on cuts, much like Valencia\u2019s patient Reuvers.
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Jaylen Hoard – Phtoto credit: Migiel Angel Polo<\/p><\/div>
\nMaccabi executed better than its opponent, scoring 31 points while shooting 5\/7 from downtown and 8\/9 on two-pointers. It was the kind of quarter worth saving and revisiting. By the end of it, one perfectly legitimate question remained: Could Maccabi sustain Valencia\u2019s pace?<\/p>\n

At some point in the second quarter, the experiment came to an end. Valencia cranked up the aggression and choked off Maccabi\u2019s pick-and-roll game. With the defensive assignment falling to Iffe Lundberg and Daniel Theis, the hosts began chipping away at a lead that had been in double digits just three minutes earlier. Before long, it was gone, punctuated by another Lundberg turnover, not his last of the night and a determined Gonzalo Corbal\u00e1n racing down the floor for an awkward reverse dunk, accompanied by the familiar trumpets that blared throughout the evening.
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Oshae Brissett – Phtoto credit: Migiel Angel Polo<\/p><\/div>
\nIf the first half was a dance competition, with eight 3-pointers for each side and nearly 100 combined points, the second half was a full-blown battle of attrition.<\/p>\n

Katash\u2019s yellow-and-blue increasingly took the ball inside and enjoyed excellent stretches from Brissett, Clark and Sorkin. Each took a turn helping Maccabi build a small cushion, but the stubborn Spaniards kept finding points from every conceivable source despite struggling badly from beyond the arc, shooting just 3\/17 from three-point range. Valencia outscored Maccabi 23-12 in points off turnovers and added 17 second-chance points. Two of those came from Armoni Brooks, helping the hosts carry a narrow lead into a tightly contested fourth quarter.
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Phtoto credit: Migiel Angel Polo<\/p><\/div>
\nBut Maccabi Tel Aviv had not made the long train journey from Barcelona to lose, at least not if Jimmy Clark had anything to say about it.<\/p>\n

After Colson, enjoying his first genuinely strong performance in a while and Sorkin scored for the visitors, while Nikola Mirotic went to work at the free-throw line and Corbal\u00e1n continued finding points by hook or by crook for Valencia, the game entered crunch time. That was when Clark arrived.
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Phtoto credit: Migiel Angel Polo<\/p><\/div>
\nMaccabi\u2019s No. 2 took matters into his own hands, sprinkling a little stardust with two spectacular plays reminiscent of Oklahoma City\u2019s own No. 2, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to bring home Maccabi\u2019s second win of the season.<\/p>\n

That could have been the perfect ending to this column. Instead, Katash\u2019s team endured several more agonizing minutes in the closing seconds, nearly losing its composure altogether. Fortunately for Maccabi, its head remained firmly attached to Jimmy\u2019s broad shoulders as they held on for the win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even if we take the final 30 seconds of last night\u2019s game at Valencia\u2019s arena into account (and we don\u2019t necessarily have to), one thing still needs to be said: Maccabi Tel Aviv deserved its win over the Spanish side in orange. It\u2019s an achievement shared by only one other team, reigning champion Olympiacos. Beyond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":193900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-193898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nMore Than a Win: Maccabi Tel Aviv Takes a Meaningful Step Forward in Valencia - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/more-than-a-win-maccabi-tel-aviv-takes-a-meaningful-step-forward-in-valencia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More Than a Win: Maccabi Tel Aviv Takes a Meaningful Step Forward in Valencia - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even if we take the final 30 seconds of last night\u2019s game at Valencia\u2019s arena into account (and we don\u2019t necessarily have to), one thing still needs to be said: Maccabi Tel Aviv deserved its win over the Spanish side in orange. 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