

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv swingman Darrun Hilliard played his best game of the series on Thursday in helping his team blast AS Monaco 104-69. But it was something that Hilliard did on his way into the arena that both embarrassed and honored his head coach and got him started on the right foot.
Hilliard wore an authentic signed Oded Kattash No. 10 jersey from his coach’s Maccabi playing days in the late 1990s. Kattash starred for Maccabi, his boyhood club, from 1995 through 1999.
"I thought it was fly and it's the last EuroLeague game [at home]. I just wanted to pay my respects to both Coach and all of Maccabi," Hilliard explained later.
"Those who know me know that gestures like that embarrass me a little, but I took it with the warmth and love that was intended. Darrrun has his way to show love and I loved it. It made me smile," Kattash reacted when asked about it after the game.
Whether it was because of the jersey or not, Hilliard was in a groove – like the rest of the Maccabi players – on Thursday and went for 11 points, all scored in the fourth quarter, plus 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal for a PIR of 12 in 20:36 of playing time.
So far in this series, Maccabi is 2-0 when Hilliard scores in double figures. He is shooting 50% from downtown in the series, too, but has made 5 triples in the team’s two wins and 1 in each of the losses.
Although everyone seemed to love Hilliard wearing the Kattash jersey, he knows that his and his teammates' Game 5 future will be decided by something else.
"I don’t want to say [that] when we play this way we’re gonna blow everybody out, because that’s not gonna happen. They’re gonna come back and play even harder," he summed up. "As long as we keep that same level of intensity and continue to get better, it’s gonna be a great game for Game 5."