At 9pm CET, it’ll be time for the proverbial part two of the Euroleague Final Four doubleheader as Maccabi Tel Aviv takes on Real Madrid. BallinEurope will be sailing the stream of consciousness again, live blogging the action. Click below the break to follow.
Pregame: There will be no home court advantage enjoyed by Real Madrid in this one, cf. 1969.
Pregame: Near silence for the video presentation of Maccabi highlights, after the yellow-clad fans drowned out the Real clip.
Q1, 10.00: Here’s the opening tip. BiE is thrilled Sofo’s jumping for it.
Q1, 9.40: First whistle. Same refs?
Q1, 8.59: Ante Tomic with the first points of the game. Lots of fumble ball early … similar to the first game.
Q1, 7.43: Maccabi’s first points come from Guy Pnini. But Tomic answers. Real Madrid up 6-3.
Q1, 6.57: Nice D by Real gets Maccabi to use up the 24-second clock.
Q1, 6.24: Maccabi is totally being taken out of their game now, but Sofoklis muscling in there on the baseline and drawing the foul may help.
Q1, 5.14: Maccabi is happy to live and die in the paint on offense and defense. Why not? Three personal fouls received in three trips down the floor.
Q1, 4.39: Timeout. Real Madrid up, 8-5, and is now taking it inside against Maccabi … not exactly fearlessly, but still.
Q1, 3.27: Pargo for the looooooooooooooooooooong three. 8-8 game.
Q1, 1.36: Now we’re getting a complete game from both teams, if a bit too much desperate fouling … 10-10.
Q1, 0.39: Offensive boards: Madrid 5, Maccabi 2. No matter, it’s 14-10 to Tel Aviv right now…
Q1, 0.00: After one, it’s Tel Aviv 14, Madrid 12. A bit ugly, the teams still seem to be feeling each other out a bit…
Q2, 10.00: Key stat: The teams combine for 26 points on 34 attempts from the floor plus nine free throws.
Q2, 7.11: Pnini with the three in the corner. Nine points for this game’s surprise.
Q2, 6.30: Timeout called by Real after Pnini’s three plus a huge two from Schortsanitis. 22-14 to Maccabi.
Q2, 5.35: Incidentally, here’s a live chat session going on with EuroleagueAdventures, heinnews, LithuaniaBasket and lots of others: http://tinyurl.com/elachat
Q2, 4.13: Wow, how is it just 24-22 to Maccabi right now? They’ve gone cold.
Q2, 3.42: Sofo bricks two free throws, Madrid answers to make it 24-24. If Tel Aviv throws this one away, it’ll be due to shooting at the stripe; they were 1-of-5 in the first half…
Q2, 2.01: Or maybe fouls. The and-one puts it at 28-27 Maccabi.
Q2, 0.00.6: Nice foul drawn on Sergio Llull there; unfortunately, Sofo wasn’t fouled enough to put Maccabi in the bonus…
Q2, 0.00: …and at half it’s Maccabi Tel Aviv 32, Real Madrid 29. The low-scoring game has to favor Real at this point; aside from outbursts from Guy Pnini, Maccabi has no real contributors consistently.
Halftime: Some key stats for ya. Felipe Reyes leads all scorers with 10 and Ante Tomic has nine for Madrid; for Maccabi, Guy Pnini has nine and Sofoklis has eight. Only seven assists for Real Madrid and three are from Carlos Saurez. Madrid is shooting just 11-of-38 overall, but is outrebounding Maccabi, 24-17. And Maccabi is a pitiful 1-of-7 from the free throw line, demonstrating that Achilles’ heel.
Q3, 8.11: This figures: Real’s first three points of the half are all on free throws. Meanwhile, Pargo jams it home. Maccabi, 40-32, and opening it up.
Q3, 6.08: Pargo with a spin move sure to make the highlight reels!
Q3, 4.25: The Maccabi faithful are louder and louder, despite Prigioni single-handedly closing the gap for Madrid. 42-38, Tel Aviv.
Q3, 4.25: Just one of two from the line for Lior Eliyahu…and then Suarez hits a three. Free throws *will* kill Maccabi (if anything does).
Q3, 2.33: Maccabi forces the first 24-second violation from Real, then fast-breaks for two. They chase this with a drawn foul to Eidson from Fischer. Maccabi, 47-41.
Q3, 2.08: And nearly another! Great D from Maccabi…
Q3, 1.11: If it weren’t for free throws this quarter, BiE swears Real wouldn’t score at all…
Q3, 0.00: Pargo goes aggro, beats two Madrid big men to end the quarter’s scoring. Maccabi with an insurmountable (?) 55-47 lead. Madrid scored three times on their last nine trips down the floor.
Q4, 9.40: Blu hits the two for the first points of the fourth and a 10-point lead.
Q4, 7.59: Crazy Maccabi stats from the first three quarters — 52% on 2s, 50% on 3s and 47% from the ‘stripe…
Q4, 7.59: …and Madrid just 16-of-52 on overall shooting through three.
Q4, 6.34: Llull throws away an easy pass. Like Maccabi needed that help, up 63-49.
Q4, 6.01: David Blu for three … BiE proclaims it the dagger. 66-49 and the fat lady’s warming up in the wings.
Q4, 4.56: Eidson’s ridiculous. Another three; Maccabi up, 69-51, as this one tries to wind down in defiance of referee whistles.
Q4, 3.22: Sudden thought: Imagine if Maccabi could shoot free throws. They might be up 30 by now.
Q4, 2.49: The line for Eidson so far reads 19 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 steals, 1 block. Whoa.
Q4, 2.08: Tel Aviv up 79-56 and they’re still not letting up. And Derrick Sharp’s in the game!
Q4, 1.29: Sharp for three, making him the ninth Maccabi player to score.
Q4, 0.00: To think BiE predicted this to go into overtime … final score, 82-63.
