Jordan Farmar stars as Maccabi Tel Aviv hunt down Real Madrid 88-82 – Euroleague Recap Part 1
On Thursday night, in front of a sellout crowd at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv, Macabi Tel Aviv showed exactly why they are being considered the favourites to clinch the European glory this time around.
Pitched up against the Spanish giants, Real Madrid, the Israelis showcased an extravaganza of some pin point shooting from the two point range to carve out an 88-82 win. In doing so, they threw the Group C wide open. Maccabi, Madrid
and Anadolu Efes are all with a 2-1 record now, however, the Spaniards are still on top due to a better point differential.
Jordan Farmar, the New Jersey Nets point guard showed exactly why the Macabi were so interested in hiring his services. On the night, the 6 ft 2 swingman erupted with a game-high 27 points on a 9 of 11 shooting from the two point
range, a three pointer, and a 6 of 9 effort from the charity stripe. Farmar also chipped in five dimes and 4 boards.
Maccabi Electra Head Coach, David Blatt was extremely happy with his NBA import;
“Jordan deserves all the credit for his performance tonight. It had nothing to do with me. Our fans gave us a great push as always. They give us such great support; it's an advantage very few teams get in Europe."
He was the one who got the game running for the Israelis with a layup inside the first minutes. His effort though was immediately bettered by the Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Rudy Fernandez, who knocked down a three to put Real
on the score board. It was followed by another trey from Llull Sergio and Madrid were off and running.
Or so they thought.
A minute later, Farmar was at it again and he drilled two jumpers to put his team back on level terms at 6 apiece. The third minute of the game came and went, with both teams failing to get the ball inside the rim. The scoreless
spell was however broken by a two from Maccabi’s Lior Eliyahu. Fernandez responded again with a pair of free throws and by the end of the fourth minute, the game was tied at 10.
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