By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Everybody in Aleksandar Nikolić Hall was thinking about what happened against Olympiacos. But the story was different this time for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The home team got the win against Real Madrid 92-91, a game that was decided with a long-range three-pointer from Tamir Blatt in the closing seconds.
Maccabi‘s victory arrived after an amazing second quarter (40 points) and a historic performance by Lonnie Walker IV.
The American guard finished the game with 27 points, 23 of them in the second quarter, the most ever by any EuroLeague player in a second quarter.
Roman Sorkin (21p., 6r.) and Oshae Brissett (18p.) were also huge for the Israeli team, which jumps to a 2-4 record.
Real Madrid, now at 3-3, had Trey Lyles (16p., 10r.) and Mario Hezonja (24p.) as its best players.
It was a game of very short rotation teams, for very different reasons. Sergio Llull, Andrés Feliz, and Bruno Fernando did not travel to Belgrade, while Oded Kattash had only nine players on the floor, with three of them playing +30 minutes.
The game was on the verge of being over, with the score being 76-65 and only a few minutes left in the third quarter.
But Real Madrid had an 11-0 run to tie the game and equalise things to start the fourth quarter.
It was obvious that the game would be decided in the last second. Despite some great minutes from Sorkin and Walker, a Campazzo three-pointer gave Real Madrid an 88-87 lead entering the last minute.
The great minutes for los Blancos even gave them a small lead (91-89), but Tamir Blatt appeared when it mattered most to score the game-winning triple. Ηezonja had one last chance to win the game but missed at the buzzer.