Maccabi Tel Aviv must stay strong in Munich
Maccabi Tel Aviv made another big step forward adding experienced NBA veteran Amar’e Stoudemire to their roster. This can be the best reward for the big man – to reach the Final4 and maybe to win in at the end of his impressive career. Signing him is another proof, if we needed one more, that the Israeli powerhouse is ready to fight for the Euroleague’s title this season.
In spite of too many injuries, Maccabi Tel Aviv has an amazing roster, including strong Americans and local talents, like Casspi, Cohen, Zoosman and Avdija. The club was replacing constantly their missing players only to stay close to the top of the main European competition. Winning today in Munich is part of their to-do list because the fight for reaching the home-court advantage for the playoff will be tough. With Anadolu Efes, F.C. Barcelona, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid competing with them for the best spots in the final ranking, Maccabi’s only solution is not to make any fail against small teams like Bayern Munich.
Escaping the win today can have a serious impact for Maccabi Tel Aviv, especially because the other title contenders are playing at home this round having a good probability to win. If Maccabi smashed Alba Berlin away a couple of weeks before, they can do it easily also with Bayern, which is not at all a tough opponent. Remember that Zalgiris with an average roster destroyed Bayern in Munich by a huge margin this season. So I expect a clear win of the visitors tonight who invested a lot of money in the roster, having huge expectations this year. Maccabi Tel Aviv cannot afford wrong steps at this moment after beating FC Barcelona and Armani Milan in a row last week. They have to look forward, securing a top4 spot for the end of the regular season.
Photo: Euroleague
Gratian Cormos
