Mac TA blows out Holon to improve to 5-0

Maccabi TA extends its perfect start to the season, crushing Hapoel Holon at Nokia to improve its average margin of victory in local play to 24.8 points.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv 311 (photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Maccabi Tel Aviv 311
(photo credit: Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Maccabi Tel Aviv extended its perfect start to the BSL season to 5-0 on Monday, crushing Hapoel Holon 102-63 at the Nokia Arena to improve its average margin of victory in local league play to 24.8 points.
Holon gave Maccabi a fight in the first 10 minutes, trailing by just two points (28-26) after the first period.
However, the visitors completely lost their way after that, scoring just 20 points in the next two quarters combined en route to an embarrassing defeat.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis had 12 points for Maccabi, which had 10 players with eight points or more.
The comfortable victory allowed Maccabi coach David Blatt to rest his players ahead of Thursday’s Euroleague home encounter against Polish champion Prokom Gdynia, with no Tel Aviv player being on court for more than 24 minutes on Monday.
Holon was hitting shot after shot in the first period and refused to allow Maccabi to pull ahead.
The visitors were especially lethal from beyond the arc, scoring five of seven three-pointers in the first 10 minutes.
However, Holon’s defense was no where near as impressive, meaning Tel Aviv still led 28-26 after the first quarter.
It seemed unlikely Holon would be able to maintain its first quarter accuracy, but few expected its offense to collapse in such a manner.
Tel Aviv went on a 20-2 run, capped by a Chuck Eidson basket, to open a 52-32 lead, and despite cutting the gap to 56-40 by the break, there was no doubt Maccabi would continue to cruise in the second half.
Holon’s offense completely broke down in the third period, with Danny Franco’s men scoring just six points in 10 minutes to Maccabi’s 26.
The hosts did whatever they pleased in the third quarter, rendering the final 10 minutes of the game truly meaningless for everyone but Maccabi’s Jeff Foote, who finally made his debut for the team. Rich Melzer had 19 points for Holon, which falls to 1-4 on the season.