The Israeli guard fired on all cylinders in Round 1
What Baldwin-Brown backcourt? Blatt has career night in opener
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Regular Season
Round 1 of 34
Group Regular Season
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On Thursday night, Tamir Blatt made Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv fans quickly forget about last season’s star backcourt of Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown. The playmaker couldn’t have tipped off the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season any better, enjoying a career night and home victory.
The 27-year-old point guard Blatt posted career highs of 21 points, 12 assists and 36 PIR in Maccabi’s 89-82 win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne. Blatt made 4-of-5 two-pointers, all 4 of his three-point attempts and his lone free throw, topping his previous best of 17 points for ALBA Berlin against FC Barcelona on December 1, 2022.
Blatt, who also had 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 fouls drawn and just 2 turnovers in the game, eclipsed his previous high in assists of 9 versus EA7 Emporio Armani Milan on April 11, 2024, for Maccabi. And his best PIR before this game was 20 for ALBA against Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens on October 19, 2022.
“I feel great. I am really happy for the guys and for the team,” said Blatt, who is playing his second season back with a native Israeli club after two seasons in Germany with ALBA. “It was a great team effort and I’m happy we got the first win.”
About his strong performance, Blatt said: “It’s great to play well and I’m happy and the guys really helped me to get to my spots. The most important thing is that we got the win and we move forward.”
Blatt’s performance comes after he averaged 7.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 19 minutes over 38 games last season. But because Maccabi had point guards such as Baldwin and Brown, Blatt did not start a single game last season in the EuroLeague.
Maccabi coach Oded Kattash had Blatt on the court for nearly 29 minutes against ASVEL. Blatt’s performance also gave Kattash less reason to play new point guard Rokas Jokubaitis as the Lithuanian playmaker from FC Barcelona played 15 minutes, scoring 4 points and dishing 2 assists.
It was a tremendous start to the season for Blatt in a good Maccabi victory. Who were the team’s guards again last season?