2020-21Regular SeasonRound 8
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv 85
Zalgiris Kaunas 57
November 12, 2020 CET: 20:05
Local time: 21:05 MENORA MIVTACHIM ARENA

Maccabi blasts Zalgiris at both ends

Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv dominated Zalgiris Kaunas at both ends in capturing an 85-57 victory over the Lithuanian champs on Thursday at Menora Mivtachim Arena. Maccabi used a 20-0 run that bridged the first and second quarters in building a 30-point halftime margin from which Zalgiris never recovered. The result boosted Maccabi's record to 3-5 and dropped Zalgiris to 5-3. Tyler Dorsey paced five Maccabi scorers in double figures with 16 points, Chris Jones added 15, Dragan Bender scored 11 and Elijah Bryant and Scottie Wilbekin had 10 points apiece. Thomas Walkup lad the Zalgiris attack with 12 points and Joffrey Lauvergne and Marius Grigonis netted 11 each.

Lauvergne opened the game with an alley-oop slam as he and Walkup combined for all of Zalgiris's points in a 2-8 start. Back-to-Back three-pointers by Angelo Caloirao and Sandy Cohen revived Maccabi. Both teams made multiple substitutions after 6 minutes and Maccabi's paid off quickly as Jones hit a step-back jumper to put the hosts ahead 14-12. Jones added a jumper, a steal and a three before Bender ended the first quarter with a triple to extend an 8-0 run for a 24-14 lead. Bender nailed another three to open the second quarter and Oz Blayzer also hit from deep. Dorsey scored twice to complete a 20-0 Maccabi run for a 36-14 lead. Lukas Lekavicius's floated ended a 4-minute Zalgiris drought before a three by Dorsey made it a 25-point lead. Lauvergne went to work in the paint, but Maccabi continued to add to its lead. A three by Dorsey made it 49-21 and Wilbekin free throws boosted the margin to 53-23 at the break.

Caloirao struck first for Maccabi in the second half. Lauvergne continued to be a shining light for Zalgiris with a pair of assists, but the visitors could not do much about their deficit. A jumper by Jones made it 65-31 midway through the third quarter. Grigonis netted Zalgiris's first three-pointer on the team's ninth try and Walkup heated up to trim the margin to 25. A three by Bender put the hosts ahead 72-44 through three quarters. Ante Zizic dunked for the first points of the fourth quarter to keep the hosts cruising. Martinas Geben was effective inside to help Zalgiris chip away, but the Maccabi guards continued to add points as the hosts celebrated a convincing win.

Decisive run

Maccabi scored the final 8 points of the first quarter and the first 12 of the second for a 20-0 run that made it 36-14 and the visitors never got within 20 the rest of the way. Chris Jones scored the first 5 points of the run, Dragan Bender the next 8, then Oz Blazer hit a three-pointer and Tyler Dorsey finished it off with a pair of baskets.

Bench domination

Maccabi was led by its reserves with Chris Jones, Tyler Dorsey, Dragan Bender, Oz Blayzer and Dori Sahar combining for 47 points, while the starting five had just 38. All the points in the game's decisive 20-0 first-half run came from Maccabi's reserves.

One for the record books

Maccabi's 30-point halftime lead set a club record for its largest ever at the intermission. Its previous best was 28 (47-19) en route to an 88-67 blowout over Partizan Belgrade in January 2014. That season Maccabi went on to win the EuroLeague championship.

Telling stats

Seven different Maccabi players sank three-pointers as the team combined to go 11 for 21 from downtown (52.4%). Zalgiris was 1 for 14 on threes (7.1%), tying the worst shooting night from behind the arc in club history.

Special memories

Maccabi finished the game with three products of the team's youth system on the court. Yonatan Atias came on for his EuroLeague debut in the final 1:25 and missed his lone shot attempt. Dori Sahar was the next substitution and he netted his first EuroLeague points in his second career appearance. Finally, Eidan Alber came on for his first EuroLeague appearance with 28 seconds to go.

What's next?

Zalgiris hosts archrival CSKA Moscow in its next game on Tuesday, November 17 in the first of its two games next week. Maccabi visits Spain next week to play Real Madrid on Wednesday, November 18 before taking on Valencia Basket two days later.

Tyler Dorsey - Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv - EB20
Thursday, November 12, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: LOTTERMOSER, ROBERT; PERUGA, CARLOS; DRAGOJEVIC, IGOR
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv24291913
Zalgiris Kaunas1492113
End of Quarter1234
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv24537285
Zalgiris Kaunas14234457
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 BRYANT, ELIJAH 20:45 10 5/8 0/1 0/3   4 4 2 1 2   1 4 3 6
1 WILBEKIN, SCOTTIE 28:51 10 1/3 2/4 2/2   2 2 3 1 1     1 3 13
3 JONES, CHRIS 23:31 15 6/8 1/2 0/2   2 2 3 2 1     2 3 17
4 CALOIARO, ANGELO 21:12 7 1/3 1/1 2/2   1 1 1         3 1 5
6 COHEN, SANDY 17:57 5 1/1 1/2     2 2 1         2   5
11 DORSEY, TYLER 26:08 16 4/5 2/5 2/2   4 4 4   1     2 4 21
14 BLAYZER, OZ 17:54 3   1/2     5 5 2   1     4   4
17 BENDER, DRAGAN 18:06 11   3/4 2/4   3 3     1     2 3 11
18 SAHAR, DORI 1:49 2 1/1                         2
23 ZIZIC, ANTE 21:54 6 3/4     1 7 8 2   2 2 1 3 1 12
24 ALBER, EIDAN 0:28                              
25 ATIAS, YONATAN 1:25   0/1                         -1
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 85 22/34 11/21 8/15 3 32 35 18 4 9 2 2 23 18 99
        64.7% 52.4% 53.3%
Head coach: SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
Zalgiris Kaunas
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WALKUP, THOMAS 24:50 12 6/9 0/3   1 5 6 1   3   1 2 2 9
1 BLAZEVIC, MAREK 1:49 2     2/2                   1 3
4 LEKAVICIUS, LUKAS 25:42 9 3/9   3/4       2 1     1 2 3 5
10 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 22:53   0/2 0/2     3 3 1     1   1    
13 JANKUNAS, PAULIUS 13:21 5 2/3 0/1 1/1 2 4 6 1           1 11
16 LUKOSIUNAS, KAROLIS 1:49     0/1     1 1                
21 MILAKNIS, ARTURAS 20:22   0/1 0/3     1 1 1         2 1 -3
23 GEBEN, MARTINAS 9:18 2 0/1   2/2 3 1 4           1 2 6
24 RUBIT, AUGUSTINE 11:39 3 1/4 0/1 1/2   2 2     2     3 2 -3
32 VASTURIA, STEVE 18:47 2 1/2 0/1     1 1 2 1 1     4 1  
40 GRIGONIS, MARIUS 28:30 11 3/6 1/2 2/2 1   1     2     2 7 11
77 LAUVERGNE, JOFFREY 21:00 11 5/9   1/4 1 3 4 3     1   1 3 14
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 57 21/46 1/14 12/17 9 23 32 11 2 8 2 2 18 23 56
        45.7% 7.1% 70.6%
Head coach: SCHILLER, MARTIN

Head Coaches

SFAIROPOULOS, IOANNIS
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Congratulations to our players. They played great defense. The first half was amazing. We had great covers on defense. We played all together with high energy and on offense, we had great rhythm, we moved the ball, we made always the right pass, the extra pass and we found open books with patience. I think also in the second half it was obvious that we couldn't shoot with 81% for three, but I think we controlled the game all the game and I want to congratulate the players for their reaction."
SCHILLER, MARTIN
Zalgiris Kaunas
"The game started decently in the beginning. I thought we had a pretty good defensive showing until the middle of the first quarter and then we couldn't stop the bleeding anymore until halftime. Defensively we have big problems keeping people in front, they were driving the ball and kicking the ball out, getting good high percentage shots and making those shots. And then offensively we lacked aggressiveness as well. At a certain point in time, we got shots, but they didn't fall. And then one came to the other. We couldn't stop the bleeding and that hurt."

Players

DORSEY, TYLER
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Defensively we showed intensity and we sticked to the game plan. We knew what they wanted to do, we knew that they were playing the best offense right now in the EuroLeague. So defensive we came out strong and we continued it. We had the 30-point lead at half, but we knew they were going to battle back. We came out with the same energy in the second half and we got the job done tonight. It's a needed win for us. We got to continue this; we got a tough week next week in Spain."
JONES, CHRIS
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv
"Our goal was to come out and play hard. We pride ourselves on our defense and I feel like we showed that tonight. We just got up continue to build on this and progress. I wouldn't say anything was different, I guess the ball just wasn't rolling our way, but we're trying to get ourselves on track to continue to fight, play hard and get these wins."
GRIGONIS, MARIUS
Zalgiris Kaunas
"We couldn’t read Maccabi’s defense. They forced us to our weaker side, they allowed floaters and jump shots, which weren’t falling tonight. Even if we didn’t score 60 points, it wasn’t the offensive end which was the problem. We just need to start from defense. When you defend well, you create opportunities to run for yourself and that didn’t happen tonight."
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