Thon Maker's absence lamented as Al Riyadi fail to close it out

TEHRAN (Iran) - Thon Maker was badly missed as Al Riyadi failed to finish off Shahrdary Gorgan in Game 2 of the FIBA WASL-West Asia League Season 2 Final, Wednesday night.

The defending sub-zone champions left the 2.14 M (7'0") center in Beirut to let him focus on recovery after he "pulled his muscle," but the team flew into the Iranian capital with a complete lineup by reactivating veteran forward Sani Sakakini to take his place.

Still, it was not enough to get the job done as the Lebanese powerhouse fell to a 95-85 decision, sending the best-of-3 title series to a winner-take-all next week in Zouk Mikael.

"We missed a big [presence] to our defensive lineup," said head coach Ahmad Farran after the match at the Azadi Basketball Hall. "We protected him in Beirut. He pulled his muscle."

Without Maker, Al Riyadi missed the kind of presence he provided in their 95-60 Game 1 win last week at the Stade Nouhad Nawfal, where he finished with 20 points and 7 rebounds.

Taking a massive hit in his absence, though, was their defense. With no athletic 7-footer to patrol the paint and disrupt transition opportunities of the opposing team, Gorgan simply had their way - that, despite playing with just one foreign reinforcement in Will Cherry.

Hungry for redemption after being blown out, the wards of Coach Mostafa Hashemi shot so much better with a 48-percent clip from the field. Partly because they had more control of the tempo, which saw them run the floor freely and convert 25 points off fastbreak chances.

But benefitting with no Maker to worry about, really, were Gorgan's frontcourt as they feasted inside. Of the six players that scored in double figures, half of them were big men.

The bigs were led by the unlikely emergence of Yousof Vand, who finished with a season-high 17 points off the bench. The 28-year-old forward has never scored over 7 points this season.

Of course, there were the usual suspects like Arsalan Kazemi, who tallied all-around numbers of 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 steals in 26 minutes as his minutes were managed better after playing for nearly 40 minutes last game. Salar Monji, meanwhile, delivered 10 and 6 boards.

Surely, Gorgan would want to repeat as much to finally claim the throne that eluded them last season but Al Riyadi would not want that to happen, especially with Game 3 at their own floor.

Along with their goals of denying their foes and repeating as champs comes the optimism that they'd have Maker back in the fold, hoping that he'll be healed up as soon as possible.

"He will be ready to play on Sunday in the local league," said Farran as Al Riyadi are currently leading Homenetmen, 1-0, in their Semis series in the 2023-24 Snips Lebanese Basketball Championship. "And after, he will be hopefully a hundred percent to face Gorgan."

FIBA