FIBA Basketball

    It's that Maccabi magic at work again

    VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - It's all about Maccabi Tel Aviv right now, folks.Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a wild ride.We're talking about the defending champions of the Turkish Airline

    VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - It's all about Maccabi Tel Aviv right now, folks.

    Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a wild ride.

    We're talking about the defending champions of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, the club that plays in front of packed houses every game.

    We're talking about a Maccabi club that had an incredible Final Four last season, one that turned out to be a launchpad to the NBA for coach David Blatt.

    This is a team that had to to establish a new identity this season.

    You know how it goes. New coach, some new players. 

    Lowered expectations.

    No one really knew how far this team would go, but the signs are pretty good that Maccabi can make it back to the Final Four.

    All it takes is an important win to trigger a big run and on Thursday night, Maccabi got one at home against Barcelona.

    With Sofoklis Schortsanitis (11 points) coming up a rebound shy of a double double and Brian Randle (10pts) two boards shy of one as well, and Jeremy Pargo in overdrive for more than 37 minutes while pouring in 20 points, Maccabi prevailed, 70-68.

    Coaches are normally reluctant to hype a positive result like this, but Maccabi boss Guy Goodes wasn't afraid to speak from the heart after beating Barcelona.

    "This is the biggest victory of my coaching career," he said, "but it isn’t my win. It's the team’s win."

    It's good to have a team like Maccabi have success in Europe.

    The atmosphere at their home games is crazy.

    There is an unrivaled passion that's always on display in their Menora Mivtachim Arena.

    The fanaticism can boil over, and this isn't good. 

    In Paris, when Maccabi defeated Panathinaikos to win the 2001 SuproLeague, fans jumped out of the stands and stepped onto press tables before running onto the court to celebrate.

    It was mayhem.

    There were more than 11,000 boisterous fans jammed into the arena on Thursday night to watch Maccabi down Barcelona.

    You know that if Maccabi play at a Final Four, their fans are going to follow en masse.

    Are Maccabi one of the top four teams in the Euroleague right now? 

    By my reckoning, no.

    They caught Barcelona at the right time with the Catalans missing their club great, the injured Juan Carlos Navarro. 

    CSKA Moscow, Olympiacos and Real Madrid are better, and both Barcelona and Fenerbahce are teams that can get a lot better.

    That said, Maccabi weren't supposed to be the team to win it all last year, yet they did.

    Goodes doesn't know if his team has turned the corner, but he knows it now has the opportunity to build momentum.

    "It is a game that can give the guys confidence that they can reach the Final Four," he said. 

    "It was important for the team to show they can beat a big team."

    You can't help but wonder if something special might now be brewing in Tel Aviv.

    Jeff Taylor

    FIBA

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