The Bitci Baskonia recovered a pending day that he could not play in his day due to the incidence of COVID-19 within his squad. Also in the Maccabee. So the coach of the Hebrews was Sfairopoulos but now it’s history. Those from Spahija had quite a few limitations on entering the country and were constantly controlled through intense monitoring with state-of-the-art technology that followed their every move. The pandemic, the war… crazy. Neven Spahija was returning to a city that he knows very well since he coached Maccabi in better times and was received with great affection.
The Alava team started better than their rival (4-8, min. 3) because they a very open game and the triples entered him. In the first six minutes, he plugged in five. But Zizic did a lot of damage in the paint making 11 points of the first 16 of the Maccabees. He didn’t like Avi Even the way things were going and he called a timeout from which came a big partial for the Israelis. Between Nunnally and Zizic they made 21 of the first 25 points. As the game was very out of control, Spahija decided to put Kurucs on the court but, a good local finish, caused the first installment to end with a 28-27.
Granger and Sedekerskis entered the dynamic of the game but the protagonist of the first minutes of the second quarter, at an offensive level, was Fontecchio. Maccabi defended in a pressing zone, which became 2-3 and ended in individual assignments. Alec Peters came on in the 15th minute, when the score was 45-39. By then, the top Baskonia striker was Baldwin, with 13 points in 16 minutes. The clash, which was a playground, amused the crowd but drove the coaches to despair who want to control and tie the parties. The break was reached with a 56-50 and with the two Basque insiders, Costello and Enoch, with two personal fouls for several minutes.
Bitci had a great start to the third quarter and got five points up with the 61-66 (min. 26). But an unsportsmanlike by Sander Raieste and a subsequent triple and free throw left things at 67-66. Spahija’s men had reduced the rival’s offensive production thanks to the good defensive work. In fact, in 6 minutes, the Macabeos only made one field goal basket, the rest were the result of free throws. After a long time, the team from Vitoria really competed and narrowed the score with serious options to win at the end of the match. The fourth ended with a promising 71-77 after a partial of 15-27.
Maccabi got closer on the scoreboard with the 79-82 (min. 33), a circumstance that demonized Spahija. His timeout with 8 minutes to go was devastating. He asked for solidity, rebound control and concentration to close the match because the Maccabees have a lot of offensive talent. At 81-82, Zizic already had 19 points. The last two quarters had nothing to do with the first two in terms of scoring. In short, the clash went to the field of defense but, with a frenetic ending, DiBartolomeo and Wilbekin ended up executing Baskonia. There were suicidal plays, nervous endings of possession, highly disputed rebounds, strategic time-outs, tactical fouls and excessive tension but, in the end, defeat in a pavilion that ended up being a pressurized boiler. The match lasted almost two hours. The Basques now travel to Belgrade where they play against Red Star on Thursday.
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