<span style="color:#FFFF00"><span style="color:#000080"><span style="color:#FFFF00">Maccabi "Elite" Tel-Aviv</span></span></span> vs <span style="color:#006400">Montepaschi Siena</span> Time and Date: May 2nd, 2008 12:00 PM EST Maccabi "Elite" Tel-Aviv (Israel) and Montepaschi Siena (Italy) will face off today in the first Euroleague Final Four semi-final. Both have come far this season, but in different ways. Siena dominated throughout the 2007-2008 season in Italy Serie A en route to an incredible 31-3 record. In the Euroleague, they started the season off in a tough group with CSKA Moscow, Tau Ceramica, Olympiacos, Zalgiris Kaunas, Virtus VidiVici, Prokom Trefl Sopot and Union Olimpija. They finished 2nd in the group, behind CKSA (who are set to face Tau Ceramica in the 2nd semi-final). In the Top 16, they were in yet another "group of death" with 2007 Euroleague champions Panathinaikos, Partizan Igokea and Efes Pilsen. Seina finished 4-2, including a win over the champs at home and nearly another one in Athens. After easily disposing of Fenerbahce Ulker in the playoff, Siena are set to compete for their 1st ever Final Four title. They'll be without Rimantas Kaukenas, their top scorer this season (14.1 ppg), who's out for a few weeks with an injury. Maccabi, on the other hand, have struggled this season in the Israeli league, with a disappointing 7 losses so far. They fired former coach Oded Katash halfway into the season, and new coach Zvika Sherf has led the team to superb accomplishments in the Euroleague. Maccabi finished with an 11-3 record in a rather comfortable group in the Regular Season stage, with only Unicaja Malaga, Lietuvos Rytas and Efes Pilsen looking like teams who could go far in the Euroleague. In the next stage, Maccabi earned another easy group, from which they came out 1st with a 4-2 record, including two wins over Real Madrid who were embarrassingly kicked out of the competition early. Maccabi finished off another Spanish giant, Barcelona, in the playoff 2-1 and have reached their record 10th ever Final Four. <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><u>Predicted Starters</u></span> <span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><u>Maccabi Tel-Aviv </u></span> Vonteego Cummings (PG): 5.9 PPG, 2.7 APG, 1.1 RPG Yotam Halperin (SG): 10.4 PPG, 4.1 APG, 2.2 RPG Omri Casspi (SF): 4.6 PPG, 0.7 APG, 2.3 RPG Terrence Morris (PF): 12.3 PPG, 2.7 APG, 8.4 RPG Nikola Vujcic ( C ): 11.1 PPG, 3.6 APG, 4.3 RPG Zvika Sherf (Coach) <span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><u>Montepaschi Siena </u></span> Terrell McIntyre (PG): 13.2 PPG, 4.6 APG, 1.9 RPG Bootsy Thornton (SG): 10.4 PPG, 1.5 APG, 2.9 RPG Romain Sato (SF): 11.1 PPG, 1.0 APG, 4.4 RPG Shaun Stonebrook (PF): 6.5 PPG, 2.0 APG, 5.0 RPG Ksistof Lavrinovic ( C ): 12.2 PPG, 0.5 APG, 4.2 RPG Simone Pianigiani (Coach) <span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><u>X Factor </u></span> Will Bynum (PG/SG): 9.9 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 2.8 APG Bynum is Maccabi's 6th man, an offensive spark off the bench. Expect him to enter the game in the mid first quarter and stay on the court for at least 30 minutes. When Bynum is in his groove, nobody can stop him. Terrell McIntyre (PG): See above McIntyre is arguably the top player in the Italian league this season, and one of the best point guards in Europe. His stats may not jump out at you, but he's extremely dangerous on offense and can hit the three consistently (40% from beyond the arc). Maccabi will have to find a way to stop McIntyre, because if he explodes tonight Maccabi don't stand a chance. <span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><u>Prediction </u></span> It'll be a tight game for the entire 40 minutes. Siena will have to play very good defense in order to stop Maccabi right off the bat, because they will find it hard to get out of an early double-digit deficit. Maccabi need good games tonight from their guards, especially Yotam Halperin and Will Bynum and Siena will need McIntyre and the rest to make up for the loss of Kaukenas. My prediction: Maccabi will win after a long, tough battle, thanks to their tradition and experience. Siena may be better as a team, but Maccabi's individual talents will lead them to the win.
Really nice write up, Kobi. Always a pleasure. However, I do think that Siena will win this one. I think they have established themselves as a new powerhouse team in Europe and will look to make it to the final to face CSKA Moscow.
Maccabi come out with the 92-85 win. Siena had the early, dominant lead and held it for a long time but Maccabi made an incredible comeback. As I predicted, McIntyre exploded but it just wasn't enough. Bynum did well and along with the rest of Maccabi's bench really made the difference today, since the starting 5 were very weak. I think it was Piangiani and his team's lack of experience which eventually led to their downfall. They cracked under the pressure at the end, missed open threes while allowing them on the other end, even missed open layups once in a while. Too bad, I really felt like they could take down Maccabi and they truly deserve to be in the Finals after such an incredible season. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>have you guys seen either of the Lavrinovic's play?</div> Nope, first time. I believe they were both in jail as a result of a rape accusation, correct? Lavrinovic was pretty good tonight, didn't get the open looks that he wanted though.
Bynum was huge from the little of the game I saw. I still miss Fizer down low though - as does Maccabi.
Casspi started in the lineup as expected, but was quickly taken out and didn't play for the rest of the game. He's been one of Maccabi's top players lately, in the Euroleague and in the IBL but he was completely shut down yesterday and couldn't guard Thornton or Sato. Lior Eliyahu, on the other hand, did pretty well off the bench with 8 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes. He has barely played this season, especially under Sherf, but he was impressive yesterday including a drive from one side of the basket to the other and a layup off the baseline to finish it off. That was his go-to move last season and the year before, so it's good to see him use it once again. Yotam Halperin was disappointing and couldn't really get going. He was guarded extremely well, like Casspi.