Maccabi Tel Aviv, surprise winner Tuesday of Panathinaikos (91-87) in Athens, and Real Madrid, defending champion who dominated Vitoria at home (90-74), lead a victory to zero in the quarter-finals of the Basketball Euroleague.
The Israelis, who emigrated to Belgrade following the war between Israel and Hamas, regained home advantage from the first match against the Greeks, second in the regular season. Led for most of the game by Mathias Lessort’s partners (22 pts and 6 rebounds), they won thanks to the composure of Josh Nebo (12 pts and 8 rebounds) and Spanish international leader Lorenzo Brown (16 pts), who made the difference in the last minute while “Pana” had equalized (87-87).
Real, first in the regular season, took cover before the last quarter (70-53 at the end of the third). The second matches of this best-of-five series are scheduled for Thursday, again in Athens and Madrid.
The results of matches 1 of the quarter-finals (best of five matches):
Mardi
Panathinaikos (GRE) – Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) 87-91
Maccabi Tel Aviv leads 1-0
Real Madrid (ESP) – Vitoria (ESP) 90-74
Real Madrid leads 1-0
Wednesday
Monaco – Fenerbahçe (TUR)
FC Barcelona (ESP) – Olympiacos (GRE)
