Fenerbahce facing Maccabi Tel Aviv for the win
Two of all-time greats will meet in Round 24 of Euroleague, when Fenerbahce will host Maccabi Tel-Aviv in a great encounter, full of passion and with a big history between them. In their earlier meeting, Maccabi won 67-55 thanks to a very good defensive display and huge pressure from the fans. Is there any chance for Fenerbahce to get their revenge here? Let’s see the match preview.
The Turkish team are in their best form of the season nowadays, winning 10 of their last 12 encounters and the good form should continue after this game. Their morale is sky high and despite coming after a long St. Petersburg trip, they will be more than ready for this game. In Russia, they managed to get a 73-68 win over Zenit, who missed some important players. The big news for them is that every player involved in this game had good contributions on stats column. Leo Westermann (13 points and 4 assists), Kostas Sloukas (12 points and 4 assists) and Luigi Datome (11 points and 3 rebounds) were the main contributors. Coach Obradovic is more than happy to have almost all players available for this game, Joffrey Lauvergne being on game-time decision status.
That injury list is still long for Maccabi Tel-Aviv and in their last game, against Khimki Moscow, they managed to overcome that deficit and won, thanks to huge and warm support from their fans. The final score was 80-77, a victory taken in the last seconds of the game. That result was huge taking into considerations that Scottie Wilbekin and Tarik Black were out for the Israeli team. The main contributors for the team were: Elijah Bryant (21 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists), Tyler Dorsey (12 points) and Deni Avdija (11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists). Alongside Casspi, DiBartolomeo, Black, Wolters and Zoosman who are out, Wilbekin and Aaron Jackson are doubtful.
If Wilbekin and Jackson are out for this game, then Maccabi has no chance to get a nice result in Istanbul. Fenerbahce found their rhythm and this is not the best time you want to meet Obradovic’s team, especially when your injury list is so long. Fenerbahce will defend their home court and, even if Wilbekin is ready to play, Maccabi chemistry is very low, compared to their opponents.
Photo: Euroleague
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
