Maccabi managed to secure a crucial Game 1 victory on the road
Colson, Brown made up for Baldwin injury late at Panathinaikos
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Sometimes in the playoffs, you have to weather multiple storms before having a chance to snatch glory from the jaws of defeat. That was certainly the case for Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in Game 1 of its series against Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens on Tuesday night.
With Maccabi trailing by 12 points, 56-44, a couple of minutes into the third quarter, the OAKA crowd was going wild. Many teams would have wavered under that sort of pressure, but not Oded Kattash’s men.
Even late in the third, two big blocks – first by Panagiotis Kalaitzakis and then by Kostas Antetokounmpo – saw the roof come off OAKA, such was the noise the Panathinaikos fans were creating. That said, Maccabi had managed to reduce the deficit to seven points, 70-63, thanks in part to 5 points from guard Lorenzo Brown midway through the period.
Fellow backcourt star Wade Baldwin had posted 8 points and 6 assists through the first 30 minutes, but he knew he had to do more in the fourth – and so he did. The 28-year-old got out quickly in transition to score a layup with the first make of the fourth, cutting the gap to 70-65, and then went a perfect 3 for 3 from the line after being fouled on a three-point attempt by Kostas Sloukas, making it 70-68.
Baldwin was involved once more shortly after, finding Bonzie Colson for a three-pointer as Maccabi tied things up at 71-71. Panathinaikos big man Mathias Lessort put his team back in front with a score inside, but Baldwin hit back by racing to the cup and scoring a layup to set a 73-73 score. However, he came up limping and immediately held the back of his hamstring. Having been involved in all 10 of Maccabi’s fourth-quarter points to that point, it seemed as though Maccabi’s hopes of a road win were going to be dashed.
Responding to adversity
But Brown and Colson had other ideas. The Maccabi guard took over the ball handling duties and dictated the offense like an experienced captain steering a ship through rough waters, while the 28-year-old Colson raised his game to an All-EuroLeague level once Baldwin went down. When Colson and Brown hit a three-pointer apiece in quick succession, Maccabi held a 77-81 lead having not led since early in the second quarter.
Colson added another score and a couple of free throws to his tally, then Brown poured cold water on Panathinaikos’s hopes of a late comeback by scoring a layup to put the visitors 87-89 ahead with 35 seconds left. There was one last chance for Panathinaikos to either win the game or send it to overtime, but Sloukas turned the ball over. Colson and Brown managed to wind down the clock before finding Josh Nebo, who went on to make both of his free throws to effectively wrap up the win.
“[The key was] just sticking with what we do: playing good defense, hitting big shots when we need to, and staying together,” Colson said afterward. “We showed our resilience today and we’ve just to keep it up.”
Maccabi has already announced that Baldwin is doubtful for Game 2 with a sore hamstring, but following Brown and Colson’s late-game heroics, it knows it already has the road win it needs.
Colson and Brown ended up leading Maccabi by scoring 18 and 16 points, respectively, while Baldwin was close behind with 15. You can be assured that Maccabi will wrap Baldwin in cotton wool ahead of Thursday’s rematch as it looks to get its three stars on the floor together once again.
“Big plays by big players,” head coach Oded Kattash said of Colson and Brown. Following a night in which Maccabi had to deal with many stormy moments, it was finally able to come out the other side and see the sunshine. Now, just two wins stand between Maccabi and a place in the Final Four.