Arroyo stars but Tel Aviv opens preseason campaign with OT loss to Panathinaikos.
By ALLON SINAImaccabi tel aviv jason williams 224 88(photo credit: AP)
The rebuilding has begun, and as new Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Effi Birenboim saw on Monday, there is still work to do.
With just over a month to go till the start of the BSL season Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 100-96 in overtime to Panathinaikos in the preseason Aleksandr Gomelsky Cup in Moscow.
The friendly game was the team's first test of the 2008/09 preseason and will have no real implications on the coming season. But it did give Maccabi fans their first insight into the team they will be seeing in the next year.
The yellow uniforms may have been the same as last year, but with stars Terence Morris, Nikola Vujcic and Yotam Halperin all gone this was a very different Maccabi.
The most obvious conclusion the Tel Aviv supporters would have come to on Monday was how dependent their team was on its star summer signing.
Carlos Arroyo, who was tempted from the NBA by the most lucrative contract in Israeli basketball history, showed he could well be the team's barometer and Maccabi will go as far as he can take them.
The Puerto Rican playmaker led Tel Aviv with 21 points and seven rebounds on Monday and made all the important decisions on court.
"These games are important because they allow you to learn from your mistakes," Arroyo said.
"It helps us to see our strengths and weaknesses at this stage of the season. I love the team, we have great chemistry and I'm expecting a great season."
Despite the defeat coach Effi Birenboim was pleased with his team's performance.
"We're a very new team and this was a very good game, considering this is the very beginning of the season," he said.
In the second semifinal of the day, Zalgiris Kaunas surprised the host CSKA Moscow 83-81, meaning Tel Aviv will play the Russians on Wednesday in a repeat of last season's Euroleague final.
Maccabi, which released injured big man Marcus Fizer on Friday, raced to a 13-2 lead over Zelimir Obradovic's men at the start of the game, but two three-pointers by Drew Nicholas tied the score at 18-18.
The yellow-and-blue took a 24-21 lead into the second quarter and a 6-0 run opened a nine point margin (30-21).
Panathinaikos would, however, begin to find its rhythm as the game progressed and after tying the score at 45-45 scored the final five points of the first half to take a 50-45 lead into the interval.
An Arroyo lay-up at the start of the second half brought Maccabi within one point (50-49), but the Greeks were the sharper side and opened a 10-point margin (68-58) after Dimitris Diamantidis' three point move.
Five straight points by Stratos Perperoglou extended Pana's gap to a record 15 points (73-58) and Maccabi trailed 73-61 ahead of the final 10 minutes of the encounter.
However, a sensational fourth period by Arroyo helped Maccabi erase the entire deficit and force overtime.
A three by the guard cut the gap to eight points (76-68) and his free throws midway through the quarter made the score 78-75.
Two consecutive baskets by Esteban Batista tied the score at 83-83 and Tel Aviv took an 85-83 lead thanks to Arroyo's two points.
The game went into overtime after Panathinaikos scored the final basket of regulation and the Greeks would open a 95-91 advantage in OT following Sarunas Jasikevicius' three.
A spectacular three-point move by Arroyo gave Maccabi the lead (96-95) once more with 1:15 to play.
The final minute though, belonged to the Greeks and Vassilis Spanoulis (19 points) clinched the win after stealing the ball from Arroyo and easily laying it into the basket at the other end.
D'or Fisher scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Maccabi, with Batista adding 19 points and nine rebounds.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
