Maccabi Tel Aviv won the first of five games it faces over an eight-day stretch on Saturday, improving to 21-1 in the Adriatic League with an 88-68 victory over KK Zagreb at Nokia Arena.Maccabi effectively clinched the win in the first period, going on a 25-5 run to open a gap (31-12) it had little trouble maintaining until the final whistle.David Blu had 19 points and seven rebounds for Maccabi, with Demond Mallet and Devin Smith adding 15 points each.Maccabi, which has already secured first place in the Adriatic League regular season ahead of next month’s Final Four tournament in Tel Aviv, hosts Maccabi Rishon Lezion in the BSL on Sunday before visiting Domzale in Slovenia in Adriatic action on Tuesday after which it will return home for Thursday’s game against Red Star Belgrade.However, with all due respect to this week’s encounters, Maccabi is already focusing on Game 1 of its best-of-five Euroleague quarterfinal playoff series against Panathinaikos next Tuesday, with coach David Blatt resting the likes of Keith Langford and Richard Hendrix on Saturday.In other BSL action on Sunday, Hapoel Jerusalem hosts Hapoel Holon, Barak Netanya plays Bnei Hasharon and BC Habika’a visits Maccabi Ashdod should the security situation in the south of Israel allow it.Ironi Ashkelon hosts Hapoel Gilboa/Galil on Monday.
