MACCABI TEL AVIV needed one big stretch to separate. It got it immediately after the break.
Behind a blistering third quarter, Maccabi Tel Aviv pulled away from Anadolu Efes for a 103-89 EuroLeague win on April 2, 2026 at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall. The result pushed Maccabi (18-16) further in the right direction after arriving in WWWWL form, while Efes (10-25) continued to search for traction after a LLLLW run.
Game flow: the third quarter decided it
Efes set an early tone, edging the opening quarter 25-24 and keeping Maccabi from finding immediate separation. Maccabi answered in the second, taking the period 25-19 to go into halftime with a 49-44 advantage.
The game swung decisively in the third. Maccabi ripped off a 29-20 quarter — its best period of the night — to stretch the margin and force Efes into catch-up mode. The fourth quarter finished level at 25-25, but by then the damage was done.
Ball movement held steady on both sides
Both teams finished with 20 assists, a sign the game wasn’t decided by a complete breakdown in playmaking. Instead, the separation came from Maccabi’s ability to turn a relatively narrow halftime edge into a comfortable cushion coming out of the locker room — the kind of post-halftime punch that often reflects sharper execution and better possession-to-possession clarity.
What it means going forward
For Maccabi, the takeaway is straightforward: when it strings together clean segments — like that third quarter — it can turn competitive games into controlled finishes. At 18-16, wins like this matter, not just in the standings, but in maintaining the rhythm suggested by its recent form.
For Efes, the issue wasn’t that it couldn’t score late — it matched Maccabi in the fourth — it was that it couldn’t survive the decisive middle stretch. At 10-25, the margin for error is thin, and the third-quarter dip underscored how quickly games can get away when momentum flips.