Maccabi Tel Aviv falls to Real Madrid in Euroleague
Maccabi Tel Aviv drooped to .500 in the Euroleague for the first time in more than two months on Friday, yet again being outplayed on the road on the way to a 93-81 defeat at Real Madrid.
Maccabi fell to 8-8 with its fourth loss from the past five games,sufferingitsfourthstraight road defeat by double digits.
After losing at Barcelona, CSKA Moscow and Panathinaikos by an average of 16.3 points per contest, the yellowand-blue trailed by as many as 20 points (82-62) in Madrid before making the final scoreline slightly more respectable.
Maccabi got off to an encouraging start, leading 26-15. But Real would finish the first quarter with a 10-0 run (26-15) and a tight second period would end with Tel Aviv ahead 50-48.
The hosts would ultimately seize control with a 15-0 run in the third quarter, opening a 13-point gap (67-54). Maccabi was within seven points (6962) after scoring the first basket of the final frame, but Madrid would respond with a 13-0 surge to clinch a fifth consecutive victory.
Pierre Jackson led Maccabi with 29 points, six rebounds and five assists, doing his best to make up for the absence of Norris Cole and Deshaun Thomas. Maccabi will have to manage without two of its three top scorers for at least one more week, with Cole (14.0 points per game) joining Thomas (12.0 ppg) on the injury list after being ruled out for 2-3 weeks with a muscle tear last Wednesday.
Art Parakhouski added 16 points and eight rebounds for Tel Aviv, which dropped to eighth place in the standings, just one game ahead of Baskonia Vitoria, Unicaja Malaga and Red Star Belgrade.
“I feel like we gave it up in the third quarter,” said Jackson. “They hit some big shots and we were never able to get back into the game.”
Felipe Reyes led five Real players in double figures with 14 points, with none of Madrid’s players on court for more than 25 points.
Maccabi hosts Brose Bamberg at Yad Eliyahu Arena in its next Euroleague game on Thursday, but first returns to action when it hosts Hapoel Eilat in BSL play on Monday.
The BSL announced on Saturday that the game between Hapoel Jerusalem and Ironi Nahariya at the Jerusalem Arena has been postponed from Sunday to Wednesday due to the Jerusalem Municipality’s planned strike.
In BSL action on Saturday,