Throughout the night the team’s …

Throughout the night the team’s rowdiest section, known as the Gate—Hashaar in Hebrew—leads the 10,000-plus fans in chants. On the bench Avdija volleys questions at the teammates who cycle through the seats next to him. He leans into huddles during timeouts. For the entire second half, he doesn’t wear a warm-up top, as if to say, I’m ready. “He’s figuring out his place, he’s figuring out his rhythm,” Tarik Black, a Maccabi center and NBA veteran, says in the locker room afterward. Before EuroLeague play was suspended in March, Avdija was averaging 4.0 points and 14.3 minutes in 26 games. If his minutes are limited in consecutive games, he’ll practice twice in one day, putting in the extra work. “That’s how I recover,” he says.