Maccabi Tel Aviv lost 83-74 to Barcelona in Spain yesterday and will play a third and decisive game in Tel Aviv next week, which will determine which of the two advances to the Euroleague semifinals.
Barcelona's most valuable player of the night was Gianluca Basile, who relentlessly nailed three-pointers, raking in 34 points.
Before the game began, a man rushed onto court carrying a Palestinian flag. Security guards removed him from the stadium, but later the flag was thrown on court, causing an exchange between the two groups of fans.
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In the first quarter, Barcelona's Basile and Maccabi's Terrence Morris each fired home shots from three-point range. Maccabi, despite Vonteego Cumming's embarrassingly missing a simple lay-up, stuck close to its opponents, trailing only one point behind at the end of the first quarter, 22-23.
But the locals took the lead in the second quarter, after going on an 8-0 run. Morris scored twice in a row for Maccabi, but the second quarter ended with Barcelona up by 6, 43-37.
The second half began with Maccabi trying to score from within the paint using its big men, while Barcelona stuck to its three-point strategy. Maccabi's Omri Casspi, who was given significantly more playing time than usual, rose to the occasion by scoring points and giving assists. Seconds before the end of the third quarter, Maccabi's Will Bynum took an offensive rebound and sunk a wild three-point shot with the buzzer. It was 64-58 to Barcelona.
But with the start of the fourth quarter, Basile continued to shower in three-pointers, causing Maccabi's coach Zvika Sherf to take a timeout. Backed by 7,000 spectators, Barcelona kept pulling away as Maccabi tenaciously tried to hold on. Attempts by David Bluthenthal and Derrick Sharp to revive Maccabi were not successful.
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