By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Josh Nebo scored a EuroLeague career-high 22 points and grabbed six rebounds as Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Zalgiris Kaunas 78 – 70 on the road to conclude 2023 on a high note.
Maccabi improved to 10 – 7 with this result while Zalgiris dropped to 5 – 12.
“I just wanted to come out and bring our best effort,” Nebo said after registering his top EuroLeague performance ever against his former team.
“Because we lost in our previous game last week. Something we really do well as a team is crash the offensive boards. it’s a point for our team. “
Tamir Blatt produced 14 points plus eight assists from Maccabi, earning his coach Oded Kattash’s praise. “Tamir gives us a lot from the beginning of the season,” the Israeli coach said. “It’s his confidence, he knows exactly what he’s doing.”
“We were smart tonight in using our big guys. We had a great performance by Tamir Blatt to help in this situation,” Kattash added.
The third period decided everything
Maccabi was particularly overwhelming during a key stretch in the third period to begin dominating what was previously a close game. With the score 44 – 48, the Yellows made a 0 – 13 run to grab a 17-point lead shortly before the end of the quarter.
Zalgiris approached 63 – 69 and 66 – 72 with 3:44 to play but that was the closest they got. Tamir Blatt and Jasiel Rivero combined for four unanswered points to keep Maccabi at a winning distance as crunch time was approaching.
Keenan Evans (18 points) and Edmond Sumner (14 points) scored in double figures from Zalgiris.
“There’s a weird feeling after this second half,” Zalgiris coach Kazys Maksvytis said. “We lost our physicality and we made mistakes. we can’t win like this.” His team committed the same turnovers as Maccabi (15) but the latter made the most out of these opportunities with 25 points off of them against 12.