Was it really any surprise that Maccabi Tel Aviv was going to beat Barcelona at home? Well, the Yellow & Blue have done exactly that since they fell to Barca back on November 2, 2016. All they have done has been win, win, win no matter who has been on the sidelines for the Catalonians. However, it wasn’t just the 85-68 victory but how they did so in dominate fashion.

But seriously now, did Ioannis Sfairopoulos really believe that when the season started his team would be 5-2 which included a win against Barcelona? 5-2 yes, a win over Barca? Probably not. Had Maccabi won against Red Star who knows, perhaps they would be 6-1 just like Barcelona currently is.

In reality, Maccabi HAD to go 5-2 in their first seven games which included five at home as they now embark on a very tough month ahead with visits to Baskonia, CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos on tap with only one home tilt which will be against Monaco on a double week that will end in Piraeus.

A tough road is in front of Maccabi but they are jelling faster than ever and that can ,can good news for coach Sfairopoulos as he looks to continue molding the team into the well oiled machine that he wants to see on the court.

“I think we played an excellent game,” the bench boss began. “First from our determination and motivation to play with high energy and to give our heart for the team and this is exactly what happened. We started really focused and we controlled the game from the first moment until the last.”

Maccabi was certainly in full control from the get go as they scored 56 first half points with 31 of them coming in the opening ten minutes of play as they forced Barcelona to commit 6 turnovers right off the bat.

Barca coach Saras Jasikevicius was blunt and to the point as he commented on his team’s disastrous start which set up the big defeat that actually came even before tipoff according to the former Maccabi star guard, “It was a classic way to lose the game in Tel Aviv. If you come out in the first quarter you don’t even get to the bonus and Maccabi scores 31 points and the whole gym is jumping and they’re happy and they’re full of confidence and you finished the game with 18 turnovers, 13 assists. Just making absolutely childish mistakes.”

“We lost the game somewhere between Istanbul and Tel Aviv in the 48 hours before the game. These are the painful ones where you don’t lose because the other team is playing great, great basketball but you lose because you don’t understand what’s waiting for you and you don’t react.”

As he was on the floor with flair and fortitude, that’s exactly how Saras is as a coach; he’s got all the mustard and relish you’d want.

However, as much as Saras wants to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of his players, Maccabi’s superb play put Barcelona in the situation that they were in throughout the 40 minutes. Aggressiveness par excellence with intelligent high basketball IQ play is what really took the likes of Nikola Mirotic and Nick Calathes out of their comfort zone.

“I want to emphasize our good defense that we kept Barcelona to 68 points, forcing them to 18 turnovers,” Sfairopoulos explained. “This way we disorganized their office and they couldn’t find the quality that they have. I think offensively we played smart and in some moments it was so beautiful, it was really fun to watch. I’m very happy that we started to play this way.”

He’s not the only one that is happy that his Yellow & Blue are playing this way, but also, the fans and of course the players who seem to really, really enjoy each other’s company whether it is on or off of the floor. The key to success in the Euroleague is not just about having the best talent, but packers who are the best of friends which was clear when Scottie Wilbekin sat down next to Keenan Evans at the postgame press conference while Angelo Caloiaro looked on from the side.

“It’s a big win for sure and every game since ASVEL we have been building on,” Wilbekin said. “I know we had a good group and we had to find a way to play together. We are now doing that. Two years ago the team was similar. But this team has more energy with Keenan (Evans) and Kam (Taylor) playing tight defense and putting pressure on the opposition.

The starting duo of Wilbekin and Evans have been improving as each game goes by and dare I say that now at game 7 they are hooping together as if they have been sharing a court for years. The pair play off of each other really well and just as Evan comes into his own in what seems like a “New York Minute”, Wilbekin spoke about his on court relationship with his backcourt partner who has adjusted from playing with Hapoel Haifa to Maccabi Tel Aviv in no time.

“He scored 20 every time he played us so I knew he could get buckets, that’s something that I didn’t see as much last year is the aggression on defense that he is doing playing hard on the other guards. He can bring the ball up and a point guard that you can trust and play alongside with.”

It seems like Evans is a far, far cry from one of Wilbekin’s partners Chris Jones whom he played with last year and never seemed to find a proper rhythm with.

Jalen Reynolds certainly saw the impact that Wilbekin with 16 points and 5 assists had on the game along with Evans who ended the night with 9 points, 4 boards and a pair of assists, ”I think it’s a matter of just playing together and we did that tonight. I want to tip our hat to our guards and to a wonderful Barcelona team on the road, it’s not easy coming here to compete against these fans and us.”

As Reynolds tipped his hat to the guards, the guards should be tipping their to him as the big man not only dropped 10 points and grabbed 4 rebounds, he played a point-center position and collected 4 assists as well as 4 steals in 21 minutes.

“We know that Jalen is a very good scorer, we know he is a good passer” Sfairopoulos said. “When he had mismatches inside the paint they trap him and he passed it well. The open player- give him the ball. This is why we brought Jalen back. Because we believe in him, we know what he can do, and he’s improving and getting into his game rhythm. I think he will preform even better in the future.”

Speaking of the future the bench boss had a stern warning before his players went home for the night as he wanted to make sure that they understood that there are going to be no free rides, “I’m very happy that our fans get to celebrate this glorious win, but… there is a big but, we need to stay humble and we need to continue step by step.”

“As I said when we lost here against Red Star, we need to keep working and we need to keep our heads up and we need to continue. I will say the same thing today after this win. We need to stay humble. We have to stay on Earth. We don’t want to… let’s say if we exaggerate, we will pay for it.”