He “cleaned” Baskonia and Maccabi entered the top five

With a streak in the fourth period, Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Baskonia 89-81 in neutral Belgrade for the 15th game of the Euroleague and with a 9-6 record found itself in the top five of the standings.

With plenty of offensive options, Maccabi went 9-5 with Colson starring from the perimeter. With Nimbo as the leader, “the team of au” made a 5-0 run for 14-7 and the American kept +5 to +7 for the Oded Katas players. Howard “woke up” and with two consecutive three-pointers tied the game at 18-18 for the Basques and with a 4-4 individual score the first quarter ended at 22-22.

A 5-0 run by Maccabi at the start of the second period made it 27-22 for the Israelis. Cleveland’s 3-pointer made it 30-23 with good field goal percentages and most rebounds collected by the home team. Williams took the “baton” in scoring and with a 5-0 run brought +9 for Maccabi and with his own three-pointer brought +10 for the champions Israel. Colson made it 41-30, but Howard started to score again from the perimeter and with two 3-pointers it was reduced to -5.

Niebo’s 4-0 run made it 45-36, but Sendekerskis and Marinkovic’s 3-pointers made it 11-0 and 47-49 at halftime. Maccabi had 8/11 shots and 2 rebounds and Baskonia had 8/14 2-pointers, 8/11 shots and 18 rebounds.

Baskonia with a 4-0 run at the start of the third period reached +6, but Maccabi’s regionals dropped to -1. Sendekerskis with his actions brought +5 for the Basques, but consecutive three-pointers of the Israelis brought +1 and consecutive three-pointers changed the lead and a 4-0 run of the Israelis brought them to 68-67 at the end of the third quarter.

Maccabi maintained +3 to +4 at the start of the fourth period and Nimbo brought +5 and Colson +6 for Oded Katas players under pressure from the opposing perimeter by Howard. Nimbo with his own 4-0 run reached the total 8-0 for Maccabi for +10 of the typically home team at 52”, with Moneke writing the final 89-81.