Maccabi locks up fifth seed with OT win over Real Madrid, 100-96

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv improved to 14-2 at home and 20-14 overall on Thursday night after beating Real Madrid 100-96 in overtime at Menora Mivtachim Arena. This win wraps up the fifth seed for Maccabi, which means that it will take on AS Monaco in the playoffs. Real, meanwhile, still has to wait to find out where it finishes; a defeat for FC Barcelona on Friday night would see Los Blancos grab the second seed, but a win for their archrival would result in Real taking the No. 3 seed.
Lorenzo Brown paced Maccabi with 22 points, followed by Josh Nebo with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double. Bonzie Colson had 14 points, Wade Baldwin 11, and Roman Sorkin and Darrun Hilliard added 10 apiece. Guerschon Yabusele scored a game-high 25 points in the losing effort. Dzanan Musa contributed 20, Gabriel Deck finished with 16, and Mario Hezonja had 15.
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Roared on by its vocal fans inside Menora Mivtachim Arena, Maccabi got off to a good start, opening a 7-3 lead in which Brown scored 5 points. Real soon responded, though, with Musa and Yabusele knocking down a triple apiece to give Los Blancos their first lead of the night, 7-9. From there, Real did enough to stay in front, and a 0-5 run allowed it to open a game-high 6-point lead, 12-18. But, Maccabi scored the last 4 points of the quarter to make it a 2-point game after 10 minutes, 16-18.
Just as it did in the first quarter, Maccabi began the second on fire, scoring the opening 5 points to make it a 9-0 run bridging the first and second quarters, 21-18. That appeared to wake Real up, however, with Rudy Fernandez snapping the hosts' run with a triple, 21-21, before a 0-5 stretch saw the visitors nudge ahead again, 23-27. Real enjoyed a lot of success from three-point land in the first half, and Hezonja's triple from way downtown helped Los Blancos remain in control, 31-38. Musa gave Real a game-high 9-point advantage, 31-40, with 1:12 remaining, but 6 points by Colson inside the final minute of the half make it a 5-point game, 37-42, at halftime.
After the break, Maccabi came firing out of the blocks once again, adding to its 4-0 run to end the first half by scoring the first 7 points of the third quarter, which gave it a 44-42 lead. The run extended to 13-0, 46-42, following a made basket by Colson, before Musa scored Real's first points of the second half with 6:31 remaining, 46-44. The game swung back and forth for a while, but Yabusele scored 6 points in a row to nudge Real ahead again, 51-57. Maccabi fought back again, though, with Nebo's dunk and Hilliard's triple cutting the gap, 56-57. The lead changed hands a couple of times again, before Brown scored a layup and hit both of his free throws to ensure that Maccabi had a 3-point advantage, 65-62, entering the fourth quarter.
As was the case during the previous three quarters, another quick start by Maccabi – capped by a Sorkin score inside and a Brown layup – extended the gap to 7, 72-65. Baldwin had enjoyed a largely quiet night until the fourth quarter, but he scored 5 points on consecutive trips down the floor to keep Maccabi in control, 80-73. But, Real refused to give up. Another surge by Los Blancos, which finished with Deck scoring a layup off a Musa steal, made it a 3-point deficit with just over 3 minutes remaining, 82-79. That gap cut to 1, 84-83, after Yabusele nailed a three-pointer, with 1:30 left. Brown converted 2 free throws to extend it back out to 3, 86-83, before 3 free throws by Walter Tavares and Deck tied it up at 86-86 with 22 seconds still on the clock. Maccabi had a chance to win it with the final shot of the game, but John DiBartolomeo's three-point shot was off target. This game was going to overtime!
It was a rapid start to the overtime period, in which Yabusele dunked after picking up the loose ball, following a couple of steals for either side, 86-88. There was some bad news for Maccabi fans, however, as Brown had to make his way to the sidelines after rolling his ankle away from the play. One of the game-changing moments came with 3:28 left in overtime, with Real still ahead 86-88, as Tavares picked up his fifth foul for an illegal screen. Thereafter, Maccabi began to enjoy more success, particularly in Real's paint. Baldwin scored a mid-range jumper, 88-88, then Sorkin got an offensive rebound to tip in Hilliard's missed triple, 90-88. Yabusele hit back with a tip-in of his own, 90-90, following a miss by Adam Hanga, who got hurt and had to go to the bench. With the game approaching the final minute of overtime, Hilliard struck from downtown, 93-90, and Sorkin dunked, 95-90, to lift the roof off Menora Mivtachim Arena. Real kept fighting, but Maccabi was able to manage the rest of the game, using free throws to secure a 100-96 victory.