Coming off a road victory over Dubai Basketball, Maccabi fell behind by eight points in the first quarter before taking the lead and going into the break 47-41 ahead. The home side extended the cushion to as many as 10 points and the advantage was 12 points at 85-73 with 4:43 minutes left.
Maccabi could not get anything going offensively and did not score the rest of the way. And Kattash’s men watched as the league’s number one scoring offense rushed back into the game. Matt Costello made it nine straight points with a layup to make it 85-82 with 27 seconds left.
Maccabi then turned the ball over two seconds later and Valencia missed three three-point attempts in the closing seconds.
“Sometimes you have to be lucky and we were lucky in the end,” Kattash admitted.
Leaf scored in double figures for the fifth time this season and said the team is starting to find itself.
“It’s been a process for all of us, individually and as a team. And you’re starting to see those things come to fruition,” he said.
The four-game winning streak coincides with the arrival of Lundberg, who joined the club prior to Round 13 from Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. The 29-year-old veteran guard has averaged 11.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists in the four wins.
“I’m just trying to get acclimated into the concepts and system. I’m just trying to win games, ultimately. That’s what we’re doing right now, so I am very happy,” said Lundberg.
Still, both Leaf and Lundberg don’t want to get too excited about things just yet.
“We’re just going to keep our heads down and block out any noise we might hear – good or bad – and keep the process going,” said Leaf, before Lundberg added: “We just have to stay humble and keep working every day. We have a really talented group and if we just stay even-keeled and work hard every day, we can compete this season.”