Maccabi Tel Aviv created an amazing smoke screen ahead of their match against Anadolu Efes in the 3rd round of the Euroleague. Seiban Lee joined just a day before the game and the Yellows said that due to the short time it is not certain that he will play at all and it is possible that he will only make his debut against Partizan Belgrade on Thursday. It was quite clear to me personally that Lee would play and even play a lot for several reasons – Maccabi’s missing lineup that every player craves, the excellent form in which the player arrived and also the opportunity to surprise the Turks.
Just as it is difficult to introduce a player after 24 hours, it is difficult for the opponent to study him and his position in the team in this short time. It’s called turning a disadvantage into an advantage and that’s what happened. Lee got into things relatively easily, while Anadolu had a hard time dealing with the novelty brought by Maccabi. In other words: Li learned fast, Anadolu learned him slowly.
After one training session with the team Lee finished as Maccabi’s leading scorer with 23. On average a point per minute of play. He finished with the highest index of 26, was chosen as the outstanding player of the game and gave the assist to Jaylen Hurd who won the match. He did a rare thing. The thing is that even in Manisa, the team where he started the season, he did a rare thing with 79 points in two games in the Champions League. Over 100 points in three games in the European frameworks. Apparently, at least as far as European basketball is concerned, this is a rare species.
Maccabi started the season not optimistically. It was weakened by the departure of its four senior foreigners. Injuries were added to this and then came the departure of Jordan Lloyd. All the signs were bad. In practice, she is in a much better situation than expected with a positive balance after three games, and most importantly, she may have found the player who will change her season. Suddenly looking at this season takes on a different dimension.
The good news for Maccabi beyond Lee’s dream debut is the way he entered the team. The fear was that this was a player who loved the ball so much that he would not release it. In practice he did not step on anyone’s feet and as evidenced by the last ball of the game he did not go to the basket but gave a big assist to the winning basket. Such a debut match for a Maccabi player has not been remembered for many years. The question is whether it is possible to go up from here.
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