The Israeli side celebrated a second dramatic win over Belgrade opposition this week
Maccabi edges Crvena Zvezda to keep rolling over Serbian rivals
Informes de partidos
3 Min lectura
Regular Season
Round 27 of 38
Regular Season
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet BelgradeCZV
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Maccabi Rapyd Tel AvivMTA
Overview
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This double-round week in the EuroLeague will no doubt long live in the memory of joyous Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv fans. On Friday night, the Israeli side pipped Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade 82-83 in Round 27 for a second successive win over teams from the Serbian capital.
The victory came just three days after Maccabi sank Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade 95-93 with a buzzer-beating jumper from Jimmy Clark, who had posted a career high of 21 points to delight the home faithful. This time, he went one better and scored 22 as Maccabi survived a late onslaught from Zvezda, which missed an opportunity to make it six wins in a row.
It was a rollercoaster from start to finish as Maccabi dominated the boards 22-13 in the first half and opened up a 40-49 lead at the interval, with Clark pouring in 15 points to counter a monster first-quarter effort by Jordan Nwora, who netted 14 in the opening 10 minutes of the contest. An 11-2 run early in the third saw Zvezda turn the tide as Nwora took center stage again – and the lead changed hands until the bitter end, when Maccabi had more left in the tank.
Ironically, the visiting team’s final surge came after a vicious Chima Moneke dunk at the other end which gave Zvezda a 74-70 lead but it seemed to galvanize Maccabi, which responded with a 2-13 streak that ultimately proved decisive.
Zvezda closed the contest with a 6-0 run but Nwora missed a tough shot and two of his teammates failed to put back the rebound from close range on the final buzzer.
Jaylen Hoard won the player of the game accolade with 15 points and 7 boards, while Roman Sorkin chalked up 15 and 8 and O’Shae Brissett chipped in with 14 and 8. At the other end, Nwora paced Zvezda on 22 points but remained scoreless in the second and fourth quarters, while Jared Butler netted 16 and Moneke added 14.
“It was amazing. Great atmosphere here obviously, and we really wanted to come away with a win to finish off a great double week,” Hoard said in his postgame comments. “We played hard, good defense and stayed together on offense. We had a lot of close games and got more confident as the season progressed, I feel we’re getting better as a team and handled it really well today.”
Clark added: “It was very tough playing in an atmosphere like this with the fans tuned in throughout the 40 minutes. We came here with just one thing on our minds: to try to be aggressive and get the win.”
It was a morale-boosting outcome for Maccabi head coach Oded Kattash, who saw his team improve to 12-15 and keep alive its slim postseason hopes despite losing the battle of the boards 38-40 and committing 18 turnovers against just 14 assists, with Zvezda dishing out 10 assists more.
“I like the way we played,” said Kattash. “In the first half we controlled the rebounds, but in the second we knew they would come out aggressively and we were struggling. We managed to stay calm and it wasn’t pretty in the end, but we can see the mental improvement of the team as we kept losing games like this earlier this season. I am very proud of the team. This is a very special win for us.”
It was a setback for Zvezda head coach Sasa Obradovic as the Serbian side dropped to 16-11 following an impressive run of five successive wins as his men missed an opportunity to move a step further in the playoff picture, dropping two places down to seventh.
“We lost a bit of organization in the final quarter,” said the former international guard. “We’ve shown great character down the road but we can’t complain; we just have to be smarter in some situations.
“We failed to capitalize on good defense in the second half and we’re now carrying the weight of expectation as favorites after working our way up the ladder. The lads left their hearts out on the court but seemed to have lost their patience after a good run of results.”
