Both Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv picked up wins in Euroleague play, keeping the Reds in the thick of the battle for one of the top four playoff spots, while the yellow-and-blue remained in the Play-In race as the season heads into its final few weeks.
Hapoel Tel Aviv crushed Bologna 109-91 as five players scored in double digits to help the Reds cruise to a decisive win. Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad came out firing on all cylinders and quickly built a double-digit lead, as Hapoel dominated every facet of the game to sweep both Euroleague contests this week and bump its record up to 20-11, good for fourth place. Next up for the Reds are two games in Spain, at Real Madrid and then at Baskonia.
Vasilije Micic, Dan Oturu, Ish Wainright, and Collin Malcolm all scored for Hapoel Tel Aviv, while Derrick Alston Jr. responded for Bologna, but it was the Reds who grabbed an early 33-19 lead after 10 minutes of play. Antonio Blakeney and Johnathan Motley began to find the bottom of the basket as the pair poured in points in the second quarter, while Alen Smailagic tried to keep the game close, but the Reds headed into halftime in front 65-40.
The second half was all Hapoel, as Elijah Bryant, Oturu, and Malcolm continued to fill the basket in the third quarter, while the Italians had no answer for Motley and Bar Timor, who kept scoring at will in the final frame to close out the 18-point victory.
Motley led the way with 22 points, while Oturu and Blakeney each scored 14 points in the win. Alston and Matthew Morgan each scored 24 points in the defeat.
Itoudis discusses victory
“We talked from the beginning that Hapoel Tel Aviv had never lost contact with the playoffs or play-in spot. This is something that we need to take into consideration. The team was consistent – we had ups and downs, as every team has – but we never lost contact with the play-in or playoff spots, and this says something. We’ve got what we have now. We don’t have [games in the Israeli League]; we are practicing seriously, we’ve got some players back. So this is what we want: to work and to stay healthy, mind and body.”
Bologna bench boss Duško Ivanovic said: “This was not the real Bologna we saw in the first half. We didn’t fight, and we have to look different already in the next game. We came with a short roster, but the problem was that we didn’t fight.”
Oturu spoke about the win.
“We knew coming into today’s game that every game moving forward is important, but we’re still taking it one game at a time. Coming out and being aggressive from the first minute of the game. We knew Bologna, coming in, had some injuries and had some guys down, and we knew that some of their other guys were going to have to step up and impact the game even more, so we just stayed locked in from the first minute until the end.”
Meanwhile, Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated ASVEL Villeurbanne 89–85 thanks to a huge second-half comeback, paced by Tamir Blatt and Roman Sorkin, to wipe out a 14-point deficit at halftime and keep the yellow-and-blue’s chances for a postseason spot in the Play-In alive. The victory moved Maccabi’s record to 15-16, good for 13th place, but it is still three wins out of 10th place, which is the final Play-In position.
This coming week, Oden Katash’s squad will host Fenerbahce and Dubai at their home away from home in Belgrade, Serbia, in what will be crucial clashes for Maccabi’s playoff bid.
ASVEL was red-hot from deep over the course of the first half, going 8-of-18, while Maccabi was ice-cold, shooting a miserable 1-of-14 from downtown during the opening 20 minutes. The French side, led by Glynn Watson and Paul Eboua, took a 52-38 advantage into halftime. However, Sorkin, along with John DiBartolomeo and Jimmy Clark, helped the yellow-and-blue to a 23-10 third quarter to cut the lead down to 62-61 after 30 minutes.
Blatt worked his magic by swishing from beyond the arc and dishing to open teammates, including Sorkin, who dunked time after time to secure the win.
Blatt scored 14 points and dished out 13 assists, Sorkin scored 23 points, Clark put in 14 points, while DiBartolomeo added 13 points in the win. Eboua scored 19 points, Watson put in 17 points, and David Lighty chipped in with 14 points in the loss.
“We started well, but in the last 15 minutes of the first half we lost our structure and our body language,” Katash began. “We were confused, but we have a lot of excuses for that with things happening in the last two or three weeks. I have to give credit to the players, as they reacted well after the halftime talk. I am very proud of how we did it.”
Blatt, who earned MVP honors not only in the game but also for the Euroleague matchday, spoke about the key victory.
“ASVEL played great in the first half, so we talked in the locker room at halftime, knowing that we had to be more aggressive and play defense. Our team is going through a lot, as we are not in our country and it’s tough, but we just want to get as many wins as we can to fight for a spot in the play-in.”
Sorkin also reflected on the win.
“We started slow but got back into our groove and showed character in the second half, as everybody stepped up. We played hard and won the game, but a shout-out to ASVEL – they are a good team. It could have gone either way, but I am happy we got the win. We are still in the race, and we will do our best to produce something special.”
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