Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv will try to keep its home-court winning streak intact and force a Game 4 when it hosts Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Keys to victory: Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv vs. Real Madrid
Maccabi must make headway inside
Through the first two games of the series in Madrid, Maccabi shot the ball well from the perimeter, but struggled mightily in the paint. Real blocked 5 shots in each game and its looming big men caused the Israeli champs to make just 39.7% of their two-pointers. In Game 2, Real collected 13 offensive rebounds and turned them into 21 points. With the team’s back to the wall, Ante Zizic, Jalen Reynolds, Roman Sorkin and Derrick Williams will need to turn things around inside to boost the team’s chances at home.
Real’s three-point marksmanship could be the difference
Even though Real attempted the second-most threes in the league this season (27.0 per game in the regular season), its 35.1% conversion ate was below league average. However, Maccabi three-point defense has been among the worst in the competition; it allowed the second most threes (9.7 per game) at the third-highest conversion rate 37.8% in the regular season. Real cashed in by making 30 threes between Games 1 and 2 at 46.9%. Fabien Causeur is 6 of 8 between the two games and Sergio Llull was 5 of 9 in Game 2. If Los Blancos can shoot like that in Tel Aviv, a series sweep could be in the cards.