In a game that was tied after 39 minutes, Maccabi got just what it needed to win
Walker’s record night and Blatt’s big shot pushed 'lucky' Maccabi past Madrid
Rungtynių ataskaitos
3 Minutė skaityti
Regular Season
Round 6 of 38
Regular Season
Maccabi Rapyd Tel AvivMTA
9291
Real MadridRMB
Overview
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"I can talk a lot about effort and character, but you also need a bit of luck in the end."
That statement from Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv head coach Oded Kattash perfectly summed up his team's dramatic 92-91 victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade, Serbia.
Maccabi enjoyed a historic effort from Lonnie Walker. Tamir Blatt showed his character to make the game winner after missing his previous 4 three-pointers and committing a dooming foul. And Madrid's Mario Hezonja was unlucky to fall out of bounds on the play before Blatt's shot, which gave Maccabi a second chance that it would not waste.
Walker scored a career-high 27 points to lead the winners, while Roman Sorkin netted 21. Oshae Brissett was good for 18 and Blatt combined 12 points with 9 assists. Hezonja posted 24 points and 9 rebounds in defeat.
Every quarter was seemingly a story unto itself. In the first, Usman Garuba, who had scored a combined 5 points all season to that point, netted 7 off the bench and Madrid scored the last 8 points of the quarter to lead 17-27 after 10 minutes. Los Blancos had 10 assists to Maccabi's 1 and seemed to be in control.
Lonnie Walker's historic 10 minutes
The second quarter was all about Walker. The shooting guard erupted for 20 points – and in doing so became just the 11th player in EuroLeague history to score that many points in a single quarter. It was also the most points ever scored by any player in the second quarter of a game and the most of any Maccabi player in any quarter.
Walker made 4 three-pointers in the period, including one at the halftime buzzer. He also drew a foul shooting a three-pointer and made all of the resulting free throws, converted a traditional three-point play, and took a steal for a slam. With Walker dominating, Maccabi outscored Madrid 40-21 in the second frame to take a 9-point lead into the break.
Hezonja came alive in the third quarter to rally Madrid to within 74-76. He scored 9 points in the period, though it was Theo Maledon who shined with 7 in a 0-9 run to end the third.
When Garuba tied things with the first basket of the fourth quarter, it seemed that the wind was fully in Madrid's sails. Instead, Sorkin came to the fore with a pair of baskets in an 8-1 Maccabi run. Less than a week after coughing up a late lead against Olympiacos Piraeus, Maccabi again started to fade late.
Tamir Blatt goes from zero to hero
Blatt missed a three and then Trey Lyles tied the score from the line, 89-89, with 1:05 remaining. Then Walker missed a tough shot. Maccabi played good defense on the other end and forced a miss, but Blatt was called for a foul while boxing out Facu Campazzo. The Argentinian playmaker made 2 from the line to give Madrid its first lead of the second half with 25.7 seconds remaining.
Walker pulled up early on the ensuing possession and missed, but Hezonja fell out of bounds after taking the rebound, giving Maccabi new life. This time, Blatt pulled up for a deep three with 4.3 seconds to go that would prove to be the game-winner, but only after Hezonja missed a very makeable shot on the final possession.
So remember Kattash's words about effort, character and luck. Maccabi checked all three boxes.
Thrilled with the victory, Walker was quick to point out after the game that he and his team still have plenty to work on.
"I know I've got to play better. I missed a couple of free throws," Walker said in starting his post-game interview. "But the overall game effort from not just myself, but from my team, I think we capitalized and we did a good job when we bounced back from our last game where we were up by 13 with 3 minutes left. We capitalized this time, so this is growth and we've still got room for improvement, so I'm really, really happy with today."
Kattash was quick to credit Walker not just for his second quarter, but for how he handled himself in the second half, when he only scored 4 points.
"Lonnie definitely gave an exceptional [second] quarter," Kattash said in the post-game press conference. "In the second half, he faced an athletic, aggressive team with good defenders, obviously trying to take the ball out of his hands, but he was no less responsible for many points we made through the defense guarding him. I think players got many easier shots because of the focus on him, so we took what he could give and credit to him that he made sure to put the players in good positions."
Roman Sorkin stands tall in the paint
One of those players in good position was Sorkin. Despite matching up at times against Walter Tavares, the EuroLeague's all-time leader in blocks, Sorkin found good shots and made them. He showed his confidence early by attacking Tavares at the basket and drawing a foul. Sorkin shot 9 for 11 on two-pointers for the game.
Another was Brissett, who also played tough defense and was the finisher on a couple of fast-break buckets.
However, to sum up a game that saw two talented teams tied after 39 minutes, Kattash had the right words in the end: "I think Tamir with an amazing three-pointer and Hezonja with an uncharacteristic miss, that is the centimeter of luck you sometimes need."
