Maccabi Tel Aviv proved it was up to the task last night, qualifying for the Euroleague Final Four thanks to an 88-75 victory over Barcelona that clinched a 2-1 quarterfinal series victory over the Spanish giant. The only bad news for Maccabi were the ejections of Vonteego Cummings, Derrick Sharp and Esteban Batista - who now have to wait for a FIBA disciplinary panel to decide whether they will be banned for Maccabi's semifinal game against Italian team Siena at the Final Four.
After a mediocre first quarter, which ended with Barcelona leading by a single point, Maccabi took control of the game and was clearly the better squad. Notwithstanding the somewhat hostile refereeing, Maccabi held a clear advantage in every part of the court and the team in yellow ended the second quarter with a nine-point advantage (43-34).
Barcelona did its best to get back into the game in the third quarter, but Maccabi held the visiting team at bay and ended the third quarter with a 10-point advantage.
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But the real story of the period was a brawl that broke out between Cummings and Gianluca Basile. After Cummings committed a particularly dirty foul on Basile, the Barca player started to kick his Maccabi counterpart, sparking a brawl that Sharp and Batista tried to break up. The referee ejected all four players from the court and call a technical foul against Maccabi.
Maccabi continued to dominate in the final quarter and enjoyed a double-digit advantage for most of the rest of the game.
Will Bynum and David Bluthenthal (21 points each) were Maccabi's outstanding players, and Yotam Halperin (17 points) made a valuable contribution. The only two Barca players to make any impression were Roger Grimau (18 points) and Fran Vazquez (15 points).
The victory over Barcelona ensure a seventh Final Four berth for Maccabi in the past nine seasons, and goes some way to erasing the disappointment of failing to qualify for last year's championship weekend.
The announcer for the game at Yad Eliahu was Rafi Ginat, the former editor-in-chief of Yedioth Ahronoth, who returned to the position that he vacated two years ago.
Plan 'worked to perfection'
After the game, Maccabi coach Zvika Sherf said that his game plan "worked to perfection. In the second half, we were almost out of bench players, but the players out on the court preserved their energy. Vonteego did an excellent job on Basile and we managed to neutralize all of Barca's most dangerous players. They didn't count on Bluthenthal - who was playing No. 4 - scoring points from outside the paint; they were expecting Terrence Morris."
Asked about the possibility that Sharp, Cummings and Batista could all miss the Final Four, Sherf said, "I don't know that players are automatically suspended for the next game following an ejection. I believe they will be able to play in Madrid."
As for Maccabi's semifinal opponent, Sherf said, "Siena is an excellent team. They were the only ones who only needed two games to qualify for the Final Four and they are leading the Italian league. They will be doing their homework for Maccabi, just as we have videos of all their games."
After the game, Tal Burstien related that Sherf had convened a team meeting in January and said then that he was sure his team would make it to the Final Four.
Yotam Halperin explained the victory. "We were simply better that Barca," he said. "And the home-court atmosphere certainly helped us. We have been through a long, tough season and we are pretty exhausted, but we did what we needed to do tonight."
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