Now it's really tough, in the pit of Yad Eliyahu in Tel Aviv, EA7 Milano lose a bad game 75-63 against Maccabi, find themselves down 2-1 in the series and seriously risk seeing their European dream vanish tomorrow night , when he will take the field again for game 4. After the good response of game 2, commanded from start to finish and which had put the series back on an equal footing, the Italian team had flown to Israel (with family members and 7 heroic fans at below) with the aim of conquering the Nokia Arena at least once to then play it all in the Forum. Of course there is still another possibility, but it is clear that of the two matches the more "affordable" should have been yesterday evening's one, because the next one, still in the yellow and blue hell but this time with our backs to the wall, in terms of psychological will be terribly difficult.
And to think that Milan had started better yesterday too, which had managed to close ahead (15-16) in a first quarter conditioned by the tension for the stakes (with Maccabi not very incisive on the rebound and with badly turnovers), but as soon as the hosts took off some of the pressure and, without doing extraordinary things but with more lucidity, began to impose their game and also score from the perimeter, Olimpia was unable to bear the impact and all halftime was already down by ten (39-29). In the wake of the groove dug in the final minutes of the first half, in the third quarter Maccabi, pushed by Blu, Hickman and Tyus, first rejected a timid reaction attempt by the guests and then increased the lead up to +16 (61-45 ) with which the two teams started the last period. The last ten minutes, realizing that the comeback was pure utopia, sadly drag themselves towards the final siren and only serve to mend the gap in the score a bit.
For EA7, one of the worst performances in quite some time now is from the defensive point, where this time they suffer the athleticism and penetrations of Maccabi (although in the end the points conceded are 75, an acceptable figure), but above all from an offensive point of view, characterized by confusing and individual actions, with very little precision and lucidity, in which the mental factor was decisive. The numbers are unequivocal and very heavy: at halftime Langford and his teammates shot a very modest 9/31 with 2/12 from three, and at the end of the game the data on shooting from the perimeter recorded a disastrous 4/25, a lethal percentage for any team , even more so for someone like Milan, which has one of its most important weapons in long range shooting (it had scored 26 in the first two evenings, 13 in each). With these numbers we go nowhere and even talking about the referees, always a little sensitive when faced with Israeli power (even in the two matches at the Forum), is a useless exercise. Looking at the performances of the singles, compared to the first two matches there is little to save and some players, like the good Cerella and Melli, are perhaps starting to pay the price for what it means to play matches of this level. The top three scorers were Hackett (14), Langford (12) and Jerrells (11), but all three performed well below their standards.
Jerrells failed to score this time (2/11) and found points almost only from the line, but in this series above all the number 12 and 23 are missing, the ones who should take the team on their shoulders in times of difficulty and drag it along with their games. Hackett, who since his arrival has only occasionally shown the player who last year almost single-handedly won the scudetto in Siena (although he is decisive for improving the team's game), went into this match with a 1 /5 overall from three, last night Maccabi's defense immediately gave him space from the perimeter and Daniel was already recording a bad 1/6 at half-time which conditioned him for the rest of the game, leading him to shoot with less and less conviction (and continuing in too many mistakes to free). As for Langford, back playing on the pitch that saw him star in the 2011-2012 season and greeted by his former fans before the match, even when he's not at his best in the end he's always the most dangerous man, but after the injury has not yet managed to return to the super levels of the previous months and too often runs into forced actions (even for him 0/5 from three). Certainly Milan's chances come from the desire for revenge of its two champions and from the fact that they show off two better performances than those seen so far in the series.
Compared to the first two at the Forum, yesterday both Samuels and Lawal were missing under the scoreboards, so far very positive, and the dunks and blocks this time turned into too many fouls right from the first minutes. Moss did his best as always, but also his impact, both in defense and in attack, was less decisive than the other times, while Kangur (the best in game 2) and Wallace coming off the bench were unable to give the great contribution offered in the victory four days ago.
What can be said, unfortunately, is that if Olimpia were not to make it, the qualification would certainly not have been lost in Israel, but would have been literally thrown away in game 1, a defeat, with those last two minutes making you angry to think back. , of which we still don't understand how it could have happened, but which cannot be afforded when you are playing such important goals. At these levels you can't afford to give away victories as happened, also because Milan had done its part, they had managed to make home factor count, and now they would have found themselves in a completely different situation. And all this if on the other side there is an expert team like Maccabi, expected perhaps with a little too much optimism (but supported by the first two challenges, where Milan has always been ahead), but which remains a great club, against which you can never distract yourself or he punishes you, certainly more capable than EA7 in managing certain situations and regulars in these final stages of the Euroleague (the last two triumphs in 2004 and 2005). A formation not inferior to Milan, but in any case not unbeatable even on its apparently inviolable parquet, given that so far four have passed this season: Vitoria in the first phase, the two battleships Real Madrid CSKA Moscow in the Top 16 and Hapoel in championship.
Tomorrow, at 19.45, however, a company will be needed and the Nokia Arena will be even more fiery, they will do everything to close the discussion and avoid returning to the Forum for game 5, but Milan in its European adventure has already shown that it can and own businesses and to go even beyond one's possibilities. Meanwhile, in the other pairings, Barcelona is the only one who, as predicted, has resolved the Galatasaray case in three games (3-0) and has already detached the pass for the Final Four, while the two Greeks, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, have shortened (1-2) respectively on the big favorites Real and CSKA, with the latter who, however, will be able to play the eventual game 5 between the friendly walls.
