The final buzzer sounded, and Scottie Wilbekin ran through the WiZink's Center floor quickly, upset, avoiding the final huddle in the middle of the court with his teammates. It had not been his night.
Maccabi had just performed a terrible game, suffering a tough loss against Real Madrid. The Israelian powerhouse must win both games in Tel Aviv to stay alive in the Euroleague playoffs.
Wilbekin ended the game with just 8 points, five of them in the first three minutes of the game. He opened the game, scoring with a 3-pointer from the corner.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
31
|
| Vincent Poirier | |
| Points | 16 |
| Accuracy | 4-5 |
| Rebounds | 10 |
| Assists | 2 |
However, in the following 19 minutes, he scored just one more basket, a long-range 3-pointer with the game already decided. Madrid completely deactivated him.
Nigel Williams-Goss was a nightmare for the American shooting guard. Permanently hooked to him, he did not let him breathe.
Such was his defensive commitment that the WiZink Center recognized him with a standing ovation after two great actions, preventing Scottie from going to the rim.
Defensively, Madrid was superb in stopping lonely Wilbekin. He is quite alone so far in the Playoffs. In the first game of the series, he scored 20 points, including four 3-pointers (the whole Maccabi made 8). The rest of his teammates, 54.
He was the second-highest scorer on his team Friday night with just 8 points. Symptomatic.
Maccabi will need much more contribution to turn the series around.
We can find a pattern in Wilbekin's performance against Madrid. In the four games he has played against the Blancos this season, he has averaged 14.0 points, a statistic slightly below compared to his season average (15.3), albeit with worse percentages (17/45 field goals, a 38% when he has been averaging almost a 44% this season).
Laso knows how important it is to stop him. He took notice of him back in the 2017 playoffs.
In his first Euroleague Playoffs with Maccabi, Wilbekin has not been able to help his team enough. As it happened five years ago, when he played for Darussafaka alongside his current teammate Ante Zizic, Madrid still being his particular nightmare.
He will try to overcome next week in Tel Aviv. Against the odds.
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