Mac TA crushes Radnicki ahead of Euroleague quarters

Local Hoops: Maccabi Tel Aviv will fly out to Greece ahead of its best-of-five Euroleague quarterfinal series against Panathinaikos.

By ALLON SINAI
Sofoklis Schortsanitis_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Sofoklis Schortsanitis_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Maccabi Tel Aviv will fly out to Greece on Sunday afternoon ahead of its best-of-five Euroleague quarterfinal series against Panathinaikos after improving to 24-1 in the Adriatic League on Saturday night with a 92-76 victory over Serbia’s KK Radnicki at Nokia Arena.
Maccabi turned its focus to the series against Panathinaikos, which begins on Tuesday, more than two weeks ago, but it still won all seven of its effectively meaningless BSL and Adriatic games, much of the time doing so with ridiculous ease.
“We did what we had to do in the last two weeks,” Maccabi coach David Blatt said. “We kept the players as fresh and as sharp as possible. Pana played three games in the last two weeks while we played seven. That can be a disadvantage or an advantage.
“At least we are injury free and now have a few days to prepare. There is no doubt we are facing a real obstacle, but we did very well to reach the last eight and we want to make the Final Four.”
Devin Smith had 18 points on Saturday, with Lior Eliyahu adding 14 points and eight rebounds for Maccabi, which had its BSL game against BC Habika’a postponed to allow it to leave early for Athens.
On Sunday, Hapoel Jerusalem goes for its third straight BSL win when it visits Maccabi Rishon Lezion.
Jerusalem finally showed some progress under Sharon Drucker’s guidance in last week’s 80-69 victory over Hapoel Holon.
Rishon, on the other hand, has lost its way in recent weeks, suffering two straight league defeats.
Also Sunday, Hapoel Gilboa/Galil hosts Barak Netanya and Maccabi Ashdod visits Bnei Hasharon.
Hapoel Holon faces Maccabi Haifa on Monday.


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David Blatt