Macabbi Tel Aviv beats Toronto Raptors

sloter

sloter

Starter
So I guess it's not just about the chemistry star issues any more ...
Looks like Europe is getting closer to the NBA at club levels as well.
Maccabi Tel Aviv beat the Raptors in front of the sellout crowd in Toronto 105:103. Also, don't forget that Macabbi lost their best player from last year, Jasikevicius.

It's really something that I have been saying for a while, that the best European teams are better than lower level NBA teams.
 
big deal.... me and four 12 year olds could beat the toronto raptors
 
sloter said:
It's really something that I have been saying for a while, that the best European teams are better than lower level NBA teams.
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Mmm..maybe not so much, at least not yet. Maccabi is pretty unique for a European team, and they beat a bedraggled excuse for a franchise a week into training camp (for the Raptors) by two points. And of course it meant a lot to Maccabi, and little to the Raptors players.

That said, the gap has obviously closed, and there are a handful of borderline NBA players on a lot of European teams now. A cohesive team like that should be able to play with a lower echelon NBA team just getting organized. Doubt they could have any success in a regular season matchuo though, let alone a playoff situation. What typifies so many of the NBA/Euro meetings is the simple fact that the Euro teams ar taking it MUCH more seriously than the NBA teams. For some of them it can be one of the highlights of their careers. Put in a lot more preparation. Much more focused. Makes up for the talent gap. 15 years ago it didn't matter - NBA teams could fart around and still win fairly easily. Difference now I think is not so much that a Euro team could beat an NBA team if both were out there equally focused (at least with no consistency), but that now the gap has narrowed to the point that if the NBAers don't prepare for it as seriously as the Euro teams do, its possible for them to lose.

P.S. Not actually the first time an NBA team has been beaten in one of these exhibitions. Happened once in the 70s, once in the 80s.
 
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If they can some day beat our title contenders on a consistent basis they should be able to get some respect, but for right now they are pretty much equal to our lower level teams but without the potenial.
 
Fillmoe said:
big deal.... me and four 12 year olds could beat the toronto raptors
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Well, maybe...but I'm sure at least one of those 12-year-olds would have to be over 5'6"...

;)
 
Bricklayer said:
And of course it meant a lot to Maccabi, and little to the Raptors players.

What typifies so many of the NBA/Euro meetings is the simple fact that the Euro teams ar taking it MUCH more seriously than the NBA teams. For some of them it can be one of the highlights of their careers. Put in a lot more preparation. Much more focused. Makes up for the talent gap. 15 years ago it didn't matter - NBA teams could fart around and still win fairly easily. Difference now I think is not so much that a Euro team could beat an NBA team if both were out there equally focused (at least with no consistency), but that now the gap has narrowed to the point that if the NBAers don't prepare for it as seriously as the Euro teams do, its possible for them to lose.
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Just like most of your countrymen, you don't want to except it. First your national team gets their asses kicked at World championships and Olympic games. (Excuse was something like: we didn't send our best players, international rules suck and on and on.)



Now one of the NBA teams gets punk'd on his home soil, in front saled out home crowd, with NBA rules by a team that just flu in from Europe (jet-leg doesn't count for europeans I guess?) And this European team is not in the middle of their season. They didn't start their competitions yet.



Wake up and smell the coffee!
 
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Bricklayer said:
Mmm..maybe not so much, at least not yet. Maccabi is pretty unique for a European team, and they beat a bedraggled excuse for a franchise a week into training camp (for the Raptors) by two points. And of course it meant a lot to Maccabi, and little to the Raptors players.
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From yahoo: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AoEkN_CMI7.R4iwUrp1ljni8vLYF?slug=cnnsi-hawksstunned&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3707/
Chris Bosh had 27 points and 12 rebounds in 45 minutes, and Jalen Rose had 18 points in 41 minutes for Toronto.
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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3707/
 
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ZZ-TOP said:
Just like most of your countrymen, you don't want to except it. First your national team gets their asses kicked at World championships and Olympic games. (Excuse was something like: we didn't send our best players, international rules suck and on and on.)



Now one of the NBA teams gets punk'd on his home soil, in front saled out home crowd, with NBA rules by a team that just flu in from Europe (jet-leg doesn't count for europeans I guess?) And this European team is not in the middle of their season. They didn't start their competitions yet.



Wake up and smell the coffee!
Click to expand...

Oh good lord. More Euro chestthumnping? The incessant need to be patted on the head for a 2 point victory over one of the worst teams in the NBA in the second week of preseason while Maccabi has no doubt had this game circled for months as their big shot and the Raptors haven't even figured out who's going to start 4 of the 5 positions and probably have little or no idea who Maccabi is or why they are playing them, is kind of sad.

It kind of is what it is, and good for the Maccabi boys. They're an elite organization and pretty much as good as any non-NBA franchise in the world. But the insecure need to exaggerate each and every little accomplishment, take it out of context, whatever is needed to be able to chest thump, has rapidly become an unsavory aspect of certain cornerrs of Euro fanhood. How about we let Maccabi come join the NBA for the year and see how they do? Wouldn't be pretty.

Still to be explained is how a huge percentage of Europe's best -- the stars of their respective NT teams evey summer -- now play in the NBA amongst a wash of other players equally as talented, and yet Maccabi with a couple of borderline ex-NBA benchers is magically susposed to be better than them whenever it serves the purposes of ego. Gee, those NT coaches must be real idiots, and the Maccabi boys must be saints to turn down all of the piles of money the NBA GMs are obviously throwing at them.

How about next time we are going to have one of these little events where the basketball world is turned upside down and Euro basketball rises ascendant, that we at least tell the NBA beforehand so they can do more than treat it as a glorified scrimmage.
 
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Bricklayer said:
Still to be explained is how a huge percentage of Europe's best -- the stars of their respective NT teams evey summer -- now play in the NBA amongst a wash of other players equally as talented, and yet Maccabi with a couple of borderline ex-NBA benchers is magically susposed to be better than them whenever it serves the purposes of ego. Gee, those NT coaches must be real idiots, and the Maccabi boys must be saints to turn down all of the piles of money the NBA GMs are obviously throwing at them.
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How about basketball being team sport. Season in Europe hasen't started yet, but it's true that EU teams are a litle bit more ready now.

Anyway, my point was that that game was not as insignificant for Reptors as you want to believe. I haven't seen other preseason game where starters played 40+ minutes. So they tried hard to win that game, gave their best shot and lost at home.

That is just minor sign on the wall, major being US NT results last two times they played against Euro competition.
 
It's an accomplishment to barely beat a team that hasn't won 35 games the past three seasons? Beating a team that had players jump ship and complain about the coaching staff just the previous year, that's supposed to be a measuring stick? If that’s the case you don't even need to look to Euro squads, teams in last years Sweet Sixteen could probably beat the Raptors.
 
Packt said:
It's an accomplishment to barely beat a team that hasn't won 35 games the past three seasons? Beating a team that had players jump ship and complain about the coaching staff just the previous year, that's supposed to be a measuring stick? If that’s the case you don't even need to look to Euro squads, teams in last years Sweet Sixteen could probably beat the Raptors.
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Were Raptors the worst team in NBA last season?
 
outsider62 said:
Were Raptors the worst team in NBA last season?
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Atlanta- 13-69
Charlotte- 18-64
New Orleans - 18-64
Utah- 26-56
Portland- 27-55
Milwaukee- 30-52
Toronto- 33-49
New York- 33-49
 
ZZ-TOP said:
Just like most of your countrymen, you don't want to except it. First your national team gets their asses kicked at World championships and Olympic games. (Excuse was something like: we didn't send our best players, international rules suck and on and on.)



Now one of the NBA teams gets punk'd on his home soil, in front saled out home crowd, with NBA rules by a team that just flu in from Europe (jet-leg doesn't count for europeans I guess?) And this European team is not in the middle of their season. They didn't start their competitions yet.



Wake up and smell the coffee!
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's the NBA's Canadian team, so it doesn't count. :p
 
x 213 x said:
Another sad thing was that most of the people there were chearing for Maccabi Tel Aviv
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With the team that Toronto puts on the floor you would be cheering for th Maccabi Tel Aviv also. The Raptors suck.
 
Bricklayer said:
P.S. Not actually the first time an NBA team has been beaten in one of these exhibitions. Happened once in the 70s, once in the 80s.
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I don't know if that's true ... what source do you have ?

Toronto's loss was just the second by an NBA team in the 28 games held since the NBA sanctioned international competitions in 1987. The Atlanta Hawks lost to the Soviet national team 132-123 in 1988.

(that was a national team, a great one too, not a club team beating the NBA team)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/games/2005-10-17-maccabi-raptors_x.htm
 
sloter said:
I don't know if that's true ... what source do you have
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This good enough for you?

The victory was Maccabi's first over an NBA squad since it edged the then NBA-champion Washington Bullets 98-97 in 1978
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Although, to be fair, that Bullets team was also the weakest Championship team in NBA history.
 
It would seem like it took them until the 4th quarter to secure a win.
Play them in Isreal, no chance.

Again, Maccabi lost its best player and the soul of the team too.
 
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