Maccabi TA proves they’re the truth!
by Erildas Budraitis
After the fourth week in Euroleague, it is now clear who are the strongest teams in this year’s European tournament. In the Euroleague, where all games are important like in the NBA Playoffs, only three teams are currently left unbeaten, and next week at least one of those teams will a blemish on its record.
European basketball experts thought Group C is the most powerful group in t
he Euroleague. There were big names like CSKA Moscow, Caja Laboral Vitoria and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Lottomatica Roma, Brandon Jennings’ former club, proved that not only ‘superclubs’ can win. In the last three weeks, the Italian team showed excellent form and started the season with three wins in a row. The other Group C leader, Maccabi Tel Aviv, on the other hand was strong enough to hand Lottomatica its first loss.
GAME OF THE WEEK
The Israeli powerhouse Maccabi club won a very important and tough game in overtime against Lottomatica, 92-90. Now Maccabi, Lottomatica and Caja Laboral all are tied with 3-1 records at the top of Group C.
The entire game was played in point-by-point style. At the end of the 4th quarter, Lottomatica had a three-point, but Maccabi‘s guard Andrew Wisniewski tied the score sending the game into overtime. Within the last five minutes, everything was the same – there was a tough fight, which ended with a Maccabi win. Italian team leader, Ibrahim Jaaber, failed to score in the last period, and Maccabi won the game only by 2 points.
“We made plenty of mistakes, we didn‘t use our opportunities, and we missed open shots,” said Maccabi head coach Pini Gershon. It shows that the Jewish club wants to be on the top of the Euroleague.
That night ex-Bobcat Alan Anderson was unstoppable, finishing the game with 27 points, 4 boards and 4 assists. Another American team player, Chuck Eidson, added 14 points. Wisniewski – 13.
Roma was led by Jaaber‘s 20 and Kennedy Winston’s 21 points. Andre Hutson scored 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Olympiakos Piraeus center Ioannis Bourousis won this week’s MVP award just in 12 minutes. Yes, that’s right — this Greek player, in only 12 minutes, was able to score 23 p
oints and grab 1 rebound. By the way, the Olympiakos played against other B group leader the Efes Pilsen Istanbul. Nevertheless, it was enough to get a 32 index ranking and the award.
Second in this week’s ranking is Taquan Dean from the Unicaja Malaga. The Spanish club won its fourth game in a row and Dean played a spectacular game with 30 points (7-12 three-pointers) and 4 rebounds (31 index ranking).
Ex-Cavalier Tarence Kinsey took third place. The American in a principled match with the Italian powerhouse Montepaschi Siena put-up 20 points and grabbed 5 rebounds (29 index ranking).
Next week the Euroleague will have a break, but on November 26, we will have a ‘dessert’ game – Regal Barcelona will fight for the first place in Group A against another unbeaten club, Montepaschi Siena. Who is better for now…the Italians or Spaniards?
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