Five straight for Mac TA in Euroleague

Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Jordan Farmar power surging yellow-and-blue to avenging triumph over Milano.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv's Lior Eliyahu 311 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi Tel Aviv's Lior Eliyahu 311
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi Tel Aviv effectively secured its place in the Euroleague Top 16 on Thursday night, beating Olimpia Milano 85-76 at Nokia Arena to improve to 5-1 in Group C.
For a fifth straight week, Maccabi had to dig deep before recording the victory, but coach David Blatt won’t mind one bit as long his team continues winning.
Milano handed Maccabi its only continental defeat so far this season in the regular season opener, but despite giving Tel Aviv a fight once more, the Italians could find no answer for Sofoklis Schortsanitis at his beastly best.
The Greek center scored a Euroleague career-high 28 points, hitting nine of 12 field goals while also grabbing six boards.
Jordan Farmar was excellent yet again, especially in the fourth period, scoring 21 points, grabbing six rebounds and passing five assists for Tel Aviv, which out-rebounded Milano 41-22.
Danilo Gallinari had 24 points for Milano, which fell to 2-4 on the season.
Multiple turnovers and missed layups meant it took Maccabi two-and-a-half minutes to get on the board, but once Sofo scored his team’s first points of the night he couldn’t be stopped.
The Greek big-man scored Tel Aviv’s first seven points, and with Gallinari inexplicably starting the game on the bench, it wouldn’t take long before the hosts built a lead.
Sofo’s three-point play with 3:25 remaining in the first period took his tally to 12 points and Maccabi opened a 19-12 margin.
Farmar’s free throws to end the first quarter ensured Maccabi had a double-digit cushion (25-14) after 10 minutes and the yellow-and-blue’s lead reached 15 points (29-14) early in the second frame.
A Gallinari three with 4:20 to play in the half cut the gap to eight points (39-31), giving the visitors some hope, but seven Farmar points quickly reestablished a double-figure cushion and Sofo capped a superb first half with a tip-in at the buzzer, taking his personal total to 22 points and increasing Maccabi’s advantage to 14 (52-38).
However, the game was far from over. Milano opened the second half with a 10-0 run, with Malik Hairston’s jumper after three minutes bringing the Italians within four points (52-48).
Antonis Fotsis’ triple soon after closed the gap to a mere three points (54-51) and the game was still wide open with 10 minutes to play, with the hosts leading by just five points (67-62).
However, Farmar had no intention of allowing Milano to come any closer in the fourth quarter, with the New Jersey Nets guard scoring seven quick points at the start of the period to open a significant cushion (74-64) Maccabi would maintain to claim yet another Euroleague win.