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Sun., January 13, 2008 Shvat 6, 5768

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Basketball / Euroleague / What a difference a new coach makes

By Haaretz Sports Staff

Not two months ago, Maccabi Tel Aviv fell apart in the final quarter and was thumped by Malaga 93-70 in Spain. Last night, coach Zvika Sherf sent a clear message: Maccabi is back. The hosts in yellow held an advantage in each of the rematch's four periods to secure a 87-68 victory over Malaga last night. The win puts Maccabi in a tie for second place with the Spanish club, though the latter holds the tiebreaker thanks to a 23-point margin of victory in the first contest.

Control was the buzzword for Maccabi this time around. The team committed only four turnovers the entire game, as compared to 15 by Malaga. That statistic was an almost complete reversal from the Nov. 15 contest, when Maccabi's miscues outweighed Malaga's 15-6. On the other hand, Maccabi shot just 48 percent from the field.

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Marcus Fizer (19 points) set the tone with a monster first quarter, accounting for 16 of Maccabi's 29 points in the period. Malaga ran off the first seven points of the game, but Fizer's hot hand - 75 percent in the first quarter on 6-of-8 shooting - helped Maccabi knot the game at 9-all and then establish a narrow 29-27 lead by the end of the quarter.

If Fizer was the man of the first quarter, then Omri Casspi was the MVP of the second. Both teams lost a measure of focus during the second quarter, characterized more by individuals driving to the basket or taking shots beyond the arc than ball movement.

However, Casspi took over the last two minutes with Maccabi holding onto a one-point edge. At the 1:42 mark, he put back an errant shot by Will Bynum to make it 39-36. After getting the ball back on the next possession, he drew a shooting foul and made one of his free throws.

Malaga's Davor Kus cut the lead back to one with a long-range three-pointer, but Casspi responded by rescuing a garbage shot by Alex Garcia and sticking it back in the hoop. He closed out the half with a defensive gem, stuffing Kus who drove to the baseline and took an otherwise easy shot. Consequently, Maccabi was able to walk off the court with a 44-39 halftime lead.

After a steady though less-than-stellar third quarter that extended the lead to seven, Maccabi pulled away in a sublime team effort. David Bluthenthal cashed in with a couple of downtown shots while Yotam Halperin got back on track.

Malaga seemed like it got the wind knocked out of it after Daniel Santiago was called for a technical foul with 5:43 left. Down 70-60, he was setting a pick for Carlos Cabezas when Garcia bowled him over for what probably should have been called a foul. Santiago got up and approached Garcia menacingly, drawing the technical. Malaga never recovered or got closer, as Halperin, Casspi and Esteban Batista finished off the Spaniards.

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