Everyone loves Rayman after Maccabi Tel Aviv's Euroleague triumph

A quick glance up and down the stat sheet easily finds no less than half a dozen players without whose contribution the yellow-and-blue probably wouldn’t have taken home the victory.

Tamir Blatt was superb from long distance, going 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. Iffe Lundberg’s poise and calm, cool, collected leadership down the stretch, along with his free throws, closed out the win. Roman Sorkin’s scoring and rebounding were key to the victory, while Oshae Brissett’s stifling defense in the final frame helped keep Ergin Ataman’s charges in check.

But above all, the player who contributed to the win over the Greeks was Will Rayman, who perhaps made the most important and critical play, a play that wasn’t even with the ball. It wasn’t a rebound, and it wasn’t a shot, it wasn’t a basket, and it wasn’t a steal.

It was plain and simple a brilliant basketball play that only Rayman could have pulled off.

And that’s why everybody loves Rayman.

The naturalized forward has continuously worked his way up the Israeli basketball ranks with hard work, a ton of effort, and, most importantly, plenty of elbow grease. He may not make the sexiest plays, but boy, does he have a nose for the necessary.

With 2:33 left in the fourth quarter, Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos cut the Maccabi lead down to 71-68, and it looked as if Panathinaikos was getting closer and closer to tying the game up or perhaps even taking the lead. Lundberg turned over the ball and then committed a foul with 2:07 to go and handed the ball back to the visitors, with a yellow-and-blue stop an absolute necessity in order to stay in front.

With that, coach Oded Katash decided to substitute out Blatt and bring in one of his better defenders, and also the team’s best instigator, in a game that saw plenty of gamesmanship by PAO bench boss Ataman.

Rayman entered the fray and went directly toward Rogkavopoulos and, within seconds, drew what was a game-changing offensive foul as the Greek forward committed the cardinal sin of giving Rayman a good enough shove that sent the Israeli to the floor, and that was that – Maccabi ball.

Rayman, a 28-year-old New York native, spoke about the play of the game.

“I saw the guy getting defended (the inbounded), and I saw Rogkavopoulos just sprinting. So I was like, okay, if I’m with him all the way, I know he’s going to have to push out. So I just kind of waited for him, and then I knew he was going to do that. That was it. But yeah, my whole time here, I’ve just tried to make the most of any playing time I get and try to help us win. So I’m happy. I’m happy about that call.”

Lundberg then drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws to give Maccabi a five-point lead, and despite a Rogkavopoulos triple with 1:37 left to pull to within 73-71, that would be it for Panathinaikos as it shot blanks the rest of the way as Tel Aviv closed out the win.

“It’s like in soccer when you bring on a player, and he scores within 10 seconds,” Katash said with a huge smile on his face, of the Rayman substitution. “The process Rayman is going through is amazing. He’s always there; he’s one of our anchors in terms of energy and his development. He grabs the offensive rebounds and, in this instance, drew the right foul.

“But he’s developed beyond that as well, and he’s added a lot to his game. He knows where to be, defensively he’s in the right spots, knows how to use fouls, has improved his shooting, and he’s becoming a complete basketball player. I love him.”

Those are quite the compliments, and while Katash always speaks highly of his players, one couldn’t ignore the amount of enthusiasm and pride the bench boss oozed when he spoke about Rayman.

Following the game, Rayman opened up about what it was like being a part of such an incredible game.

“Man, it was a movie today. The fans, everything. Guys came with energy. So much fun to play. These are the games you play for, man. That was an awesome game.”

Rayman attended Colgate University and turned professional in 2020 when he played in Estonia, Germany and Latvia over the course of two years before arriving in Israel in time for the 2021/22 campaign with Hapoel Haifa. Up by the Carmel Mountain, he averaged roughly nine points and five rebounds a game during two seasons for the Reds before signing a deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv that saw him loaned out to Saint Quentin in the French top league.

After a season abroad, Rayman earned a rotation spot with the yellow-and-blue last season and quickly became a fan favorite, leading him into a much more critical role this season, in which he has been an important cog in Oded Katash’s squad.

“We’re going game by game, and we’re winning close games now. At the start of the year, we were losing these close games. Obviously, the fans help a lot with that, playing at home. At home, I like our odds a lot. We have a big game on Sunday in the Israeli league to build that momentum, and I’m hoping we can put a couple more together, because we’ll be right there.”

When Rayman arrived back in Israel after the summer, it was clear that he would be a very important figure in the team’s future, especially after forward and fellow naturalized Israeli Jake Cohen decided to retire. Maccabi is one of the great clubs, and Rayman is well aware that he can continue to make an impact with the yellow-and-blue just as other Israeli-Americans have done, including the team’s captain, DiBartolomeo.

“I look up to him,” Rayman said of John D. “I look up to Jak,e and I want to stay here as long as I can. I love everything about Maccabi. I I really do; it’s been a really good time.”

In other Euroleague play, Hapoel Tel Aviv fell 104-101 to Partizan Belgrade in overtime in a game that saw the Serbian club come back from a 27-point third quarter deficit to take the victory over a stunned Reds side. The loss dropped Hapoel’s continental record to 16-7, but it still holds onto first place.

In a game that took place in Munich due to Partizan’s arena having been booked with another event, Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad jumped out to a quick 27-17 lead after 10 minutes, and that was without one of its star players. Elijah Bryant, who was unavailable due to an injury. Dan Oturu and Johnathan Motley controlled the paint while Vasilije Micic scored with ease, as did Chris Jones, as the Reds headed into halftime with a commanding 56-35 advantage.

Tel Aviv continued to pile on the points and bumped up the lead to 64-37 during the third quarter, but Joan Pennaroya’s players didn’t give up as Cam Payne, Vanja Maronkovic, and Arijan Lakic mounted a massive comeback to draw even at 88-88.

Partizan big man Bruno Fernando swatted away a potential game-winning basket by Jones at the buzzer of regulation, and in the extra session, Sterling Brown took over and scored eight of his 13 points to seal the win for Belgrade.

Oturu scored 24 points, Micic added 19 points, and Jones scored 16 points for Hapoel in the defeat, as Payne dropped 19 points, Lakic put in 15 points, and Fernando scored 14 points to lead Partizan in the win.