Why 2004 Maccabi was the best EuroLeague team ever / News - Basketnews.com

Maccabi Tel Aviv had its franchise peak between 2003 and 2005. It was like watching old clips or the European version of Showtime Lakers - they were fun, fast, and unbeatable.

Maccabi Tel Aviv / Schedule

Maccabi Tel Aviv AX Armani Exchange Milan75-58 Maccabi Tel Aviv Real Madrid75-74 Panathinaikos Athens Maccabi Tel AvivTue17:00 Maccabi Tel Aviv LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne03-3118:05

BasketNews presents a story of why this Maccabi version was the best EuroLeague team ever assembled: how the core of Sarunas Jasikevicius, Anthony Parker, Nikola Vujcic, and Maceo Baston was so efficient and why Pini Gershon was the perfect coach for this team.

Maccabi won back-to-back EuroLeague championships in 2004 and 2005 while winning 80% of their games and leading the way in scoring by a crazy 7-point margin in 2004. All of this while entertaining the crowds with a gorgeous style of play: alley-oop dunks, no-look passes, and unreal pace.

The famous saying goes as follows: 'Individual talent wins you games, but teams win the championships.' Well, in those two years, Maccabi was the combination of both.

The Israeli powerhouse had four (Parker, Baston, Vujcic, Jasikevicius) of the 10 or 20 best players in the league, and they were all led by Pini Gershon.

He was a coach/showman who once publicly said that his philosophy is to score one more point than the opponents.

Credit BasketNews.com

The statement was obvious on the basketball court. Maccabi excelled in transition offense and half-court possessions. They averaged a staggering 87 points per game in 2004 and 92 points in 2005.

Maccabi crossed the 100-point mark on 8 occasions out of 46, with the most famous one coming in the 2004 final against Bologna. That night Maccabi destroyed Italians 118-74.

Transition offense was their bread and butter but creating an advantage at half-court wasn't a problem either.

Parker was a mystery for any opposing defense in isolation situations, Jasikevicius had a masterful passing and shooting off the dribble in the pick-and-roll combo, Vujcic could score against anyone in the post or create for a teammate with his outstanding vision, while Baston was a perfect pick-and-roll companion for Saras.

Points this season

47%78,4Points made:78,4Accuracy:46,8%Place in standings:6Record max:95Record min:52Best scorer:Scottie WilbekinTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

To surround these four stars, Maccabi had elite role players, which would have been offensive leaders on any other team. Tal Burstein, Derrick Sharp, and David Bluthenthal could shoot the lights out, and it was exactly what Maccabi needed.

Four stars could create an advantage easily because they were so good, while the helpers were left to knock down open shots. No coincidence that Tel Aviv was the best shooting team in the two-year span.

The yellows were kind of a modern team 20 years ago, involving Spanish pick-and-rolls. In other words, they played the pick-and-roll-based offense, which did not bother to shoot threes on fast breaks.

The main man behind Maccabi's offensive power was Jasikevcius, who at that time was no match for any opponent in Europe.

The Lithuanian point guard was a master of pick-and-roll. Even without the best athletic abilities, he had no trouble getting inside the paint. Knowing when to change speeds worked just fine.

Saras was an automatic shooter after a dribble, and we don't even need to talk about his superb passing skills.

Credit AP – Scanpix

If Saras was not enough, two-time EuroLeague MVP Parker possessed a serious bag of scoring skills.

This is why Pini Gershon was the optimal coach for this Maccabi team. He did not get in the way. Parker was unstoppable one-on-one, so let's give him chances to destroy the individual defense.

However, Maccabi's frontcourt had no less star power than their backcourt. Vujcic was a lock to give Maccabi baskets near the rim while also offering Gershon an additional way of creating offense.

The guy who glued everything up and made Maccabi unbeatable was Baston. Apart from being a great pick-and-roll partner for anyone on the team, the American big man did all the Draymond Green type of stuff.

He would always find a way to get an offensive rebound, take a charging foul, or protect the rim with a swat.

To cap off, from 2003 to 2005, Maccabi Tel Aviv had the strongest core group of individuals ever seen in the EuroLeague courts. With the help of their wild fans, they dominated in every arena they stepped in and did it in a fashion never seen before or after.

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