Josh Nebo turned things around for Maccabi in Game 1
It was not being the best of nights for Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv center Josh Nebo, but he had a stellar second half which allowed his team to beat AS Monaco 67-79 in Game 1 of the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs.
Nebo struggled early, clearly feeling uncomfortable against Monaco's switching defense. He had steals specialist John Brown on him the majority of the time, and Maccabi simply could not connect with Nebo down low.
In fact, Nebo was not even able to shoot before the break. He went scoreless in the first half, picking up 1 foul and grabbing 1 rebound in the first quarter, before getting 1 assist, another rebound and 1 foul in the second quarter. At halftime, Nebo had no field goal or free-throw attempts and a PIR of 1.
Things were different after the break, however, as Maccabi looked for Nebo from the very first play – and he made sure he was much more active, grabbing a big defensive rebound right away. He followed that with an uncontested dunk 14 seconds later, finally getting his rhythm going. Nebo soon added a tip-in and a floater, as well as rebounding well on the defensive end.
Not long after, Nebo added an alley-oop layup and paired with teammates Darrun Hilliard and Lorenzo Brown to help Maccabi pull away, 47-60, late in the third quarter. He rounded off his outstanding second half with a high-flying alley-oop dunk midway through the fourth quarter.
In the end, Nebo finished the game with 12 points on 6-of-6 two-pointers, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and a PIR of 19. Once Maccabi found him, it had a much better balance on offense, as all of its guards – Wade Baldwin and Brown in particular – had more space to finish around the rim and create for others.
Nebo knew that Maccabi had to win on the road in order to have a chance and he is glad that his team did it the right way. "It is going to be a very physical series. Both teams want to win, so we are going to expect it to be even more physical and tougher going into Game 2," Nebo said afterward. "For us, to win the series, we had to win one game on the road, because they had the home-court [advantage]. I am glad we got it done today."
It might be a long series, and Nebo is aware of it. Now that it has grabbed the road win it needed, Maccabi needs to be concentrated on the next task.
"They lost on their home court, but that doesn't mean the series is won," Nebo added. "They can easily win in our place, so we have to stay focused, stay hungry and keep going like we did today."