Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (2-2) beat LDCL ASVEL Villeurbanne (3-1) 93-85 (25-21, 24-21, 26-20, 18-23) to hand the French club their first Turkish Airlines EuroLeague loss in the 2021-22 campaign.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
24
|
| James Nunnally | |
| Points | 25 |
| Accuracy | 10-13 |
| Rebounds | 2 |
| Assists | 3 |
In the decisive 10 minutes of the game, Maccabi managed to maintain a tangible lead. James Nunnally's three-pointer and Scottie Wilbekin's two-pointer sealed the victory for the yellows.
After a successful Mathias Lessort stretch in the third period, the Tel Aviv club's advantage reached 14 points (64-50). Matthew Strazel tried to fire up the home team with 6 points, but his effort was not enough.
For the winners, James Nunnally posted 25 points (6/6 2PT, 4/7 3PT, 1/3 FT), 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 24 PIR.
“We won a fight. Every game matters. Very important victory,” told Nunnally post-game. “We didn’t have a preseason so all these games count to getting better. We played badly in Milan in the first half, better in the second half, and we have to keep getting better. That’s what it’s about.”
Ioannis Sfairopoulos was delighted with his team performance tonight: “A very important win for us. We wanted to play a good game to make a start. Today was very concentrated and focused. We controlled the game from the beginning to the end and I want to congratulate our players. They deserved this win.
We didn’t play well until now, this is our best game until now and we have a lot of things to improve, of course. I think we will play even better than today,” finished the Greek specialist.
Maccabi took control of the game and created a substantial 11-point lead in the second quarter (41-30). Jaylen Reynolds, Scottie Wilbekin, and James Nunnally initiated the strong push.
ASVEL's dynamic duo of Ellie Okobo and Chris Jones was effective again.
Okobo accumulated 23 points (5/10 2PT, 3/5 3PT, 4/6 FT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 turnovers, and 21 PIR, while Jones had 14 points (5/6 2PT, 1/2 3PT, 1/1 FT), 2 boards, 2 assists, and 16 PIR.
“You gotta give props to Maccabi. They played a good game, they played with the right energy and made some tough shots. 93 points at home, you can’t do that. But they played a good game and had more energy than us,” said TJ Parker after the first season loss.
Maccabi: James Nunnally 25 (3 AST), Jalen Reynolds 17 (5 REB), Keenan Evans 13 (3 AST), Scottie Wilbekin 13 (4 AST, 3 STL), Mathias Lessort 9 (5 REB).
ASVEL: Ellie Okobo 23 (4 REB, 4 AST, 6 TO), Chris Jones 14, James Gist 8 (3 REB), Charles Kahudi (4 REB), William Howard 8 (4 REB).
Highlights
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