It was a very small Maccabi Tel Aviv that arrived yesterday to Moscow, and it was even smaller upon leaving. In the days leading up to the game, everyone talked of CSKA's magnificent defense that wreaks havoc in the ranks of its opponents. They spoke of the difference in quality between the teams of the Italian maestro Messina and the staggering bunch of Neven Spahija.

Usually, when the forecast is so decisively pessimistic, one is tempted to hope that something unexpected will happen at the last moment, that reality will reveal itself as more versatile than what the gambling sites perceived it to be (12:1 for the Russians, as that soulful lot decided). That is, after all, the beauty and essence of sports, a domain in which the unreasonable and unexpected are so prevalent.

This time, nothing unexpected happened. Toward the very first quarter of the game CSKA was already leading 21 to 6. It became apparent that Maccabi's reality was even bleaker than expected. There is nothing unreasonable about losing to CSKA, currently the favorite candidate for winning the European title for a second time in a row. But Maccabi did not just lose yesterday in Moscow. It was humiliated.

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As the match drew nearer, there were those in Maccabi who had hoped the game in Moscow would become the surprise of the season. The optimists relied on the longstanding pride characteristic of Maccabi. Except the strange, disconnected team that hit the court seemed to have very little in common with the Maccabi myth.

There are no bluffs in basketball and mistakes made in June, July and August cost dearly, even if payment is collected 10 months later, as the season shifts into critical gear. The age of Pini Gershon ended exactly one year ago, after a painful loss at the Euroleague Finals (yes, to the very same CSKA). The stars of the golden age have all gone their separate ways since then.

Maccabi is still desperately missing those stars of yesteryear: Gershon, Parker, "Sharas" (Jasikevicius) and Baston. The odd thing is that even they cannot recapture the olden glory of those fair days in Tel Aviv. This is further proof of the old lesson that basketball teams are always larger than the sum of their parts. This, incidentally, applies also to the modern-day CSKA.

The second game in the series is scheduled for tomorrow night. It doesn't leave much room for hope, because during the 48 hours separating the two games, the players will have a couple of practices and one long flight. Not much margin for pulling off a professional makeover.