With their backs against the wall, Israel’s Maccabi Tel-Aviv kept their Euroleague chances alive with a resounding 75-60 home win against Italy’s Bennet Cantu.
After struggling in both the Israeli league and the Euroleague over the past several weeks, Maccabi turned a corner in the third quarter, displaying the brand of basketball that propelled them to an excellent first round of the Euroleague.
While many were anticipating former Maccabi point guard Doron Perkins’ debut with Cantu back in the familiar Nokia Arena, Perkins remained sidelined despite signing with the team several days ago.
A healthy Perkins could have made Cantu a much stronger team as Nick Gibson pointed out in his column last week; however, the reunion was not meant to be. While Cantu didn’t have a tough time taking down Maccabi last week in Italy, winning in Tel-Aviv is difficult, and Perkins’ familiarity with the environment would have been a luxury.
Maccabi’s defense was excellent from the opening tip, but they had difficulty keeping Cantu’s big men off the glass in the first half, as Cantu accumulated eight offensive rebounds to open a two-point lead at intermission.
Georgian big man Giorgi Shermadini was excellent on the glass, grabbing four of his seven first-half rebounds on the offensive end. Legendary Italian shooter Gianluca Basile hit three shots from downtown.
Maccabi managed to stay afloat in the first half behind the outstanding shooting of David Blu (14 points) and the craftiness of Lior Eliyahu (12 points, 5 rebounds).
The 36-year-old Basile (20 points, 4-of-8 3-pointers) displayed the type of shooting prowess that has made him the Euroleague’s all-time leader from the arc. Outside of Jaycee Carroll (Utah State) of Real Madrid, Basile is probably the best shooter in all of Europe.
As coach David Blatt said after the game, Basile has the ability to “get lost” on the offense and free himself up for shots on broken plays and when the defense least expects it.
Shermadini (15 points, 10 rebounds, four assists) surely has the size, skill and basketball IQ to hang in the NBA but doesn’t appear to have the type of motor that is required for big men to succeed. Just 22, he has the potential to improve and thrust himself into the NBA conversation. Right now, however, he would barely qualify to be the fifth big on most teams, mostly due to his massive 7-1 frame.
While the Italian squad came well prepared, they weren’t in store for the eruption that came in the third quarter. Behind the tough defense of Yogev Ohayon (9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) and Richard Hendrix (9 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks), Maccabi shut out Cantu from the field in the third quarter, using a 23-5 run to build a 16-point lead.
Maccabi forced Cantu to beat them from mid-range, fouling practically every time they tried to take it inside while sticking a combination of Devin Smith and Keith Langford on Basile. Maccabi used their strong defense to get into transition, and as they’ve shown many times in the past, they are very difficult to stop when they get running and get the rabid Tel-Aviv fans engaged.
In the fourth quarter, Cantu rallied within eight points with six minutes to go before Langford, the former Kansas Jayhawk, swooped in with an excellent drive followed by a 3-point dagger that blew the roof off the gym.
Langford may not be putting up the same type of scoring numbers as he did last year with Khimky of Russia, but he has taken on an important role for a team with very high aspirations and has shown a lot of character in the last two months.
While many – including myself – questioned Maccabi’s need to bring in a shoot-first small guard, he has answered when called upon to be a defender and facilitator and has continuously displayed an ability to be “the man” down the stretch.
For a player like Langford on the NBA bubble, suiting up for a team that plays three times a week in three tough leagues under an American coach could be the best situation to help catapult him back to the league.
“For us, it was a do or die game, and we did, we didn’t die,” Blatt said. “We’re not in the promised land yet. Well, actually we are in the promised land, but we’re not in the Euroleague promised land. It was a good step forward for us, and it gives us a chance to still qualify for the next round.”
Blatt credited the atypical three days of practice that Maccabi had to prepare for the game, a luxury in a season in which they have played three games every week. The additional preparation was obvious from the start as Maccabi managed to cut off the majority of Cantu’s sets and forced players out of their comfort zones.
As a scout who watches loads of college, NBA and European basketball, it was pretty astonishing to see the level of free throw shooting in this game. The teams combined to shoot 33-of-38 from the line, making all 13 in the first half. Maccabi shot an outstanding 15-of-16 from the line overall.
By comparison, of the eight NBA teams who played Thursday night, only one team shot over 76 percent from the line, as Boston was 5-of-5. That isn’t to say that European teams are better free-throw shooting teams – which they are – but that tonight was an excellent display.
With two games remaining in the Euroleague top 16, Maccabi and Cantu are tied for second place in Group H. Maccabi claimed the crucial tiebreaker after beating Cantu by more than eight points after losing to them last week.
With both teams playing Barcelona and Zalgiris in their final two games, Maccabi appears to have the slight edge to make it into the next round. But as witnessed in Galatasary’s win over CSKA, anything is possible in the Euroleague.