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Ahrela Weisberg

Behind the Scenes

Amikata Beer: Behind Hapoel Jerusalem's resounding failure in the Champions League

The inappropriate replacements for James Paladin.

Jacoben Brown's sore shoulder.

The constant collapse in the decisive minutes.

Giving up homeliness.

And the highs that were and are forgotten.

The Reds are summing up their worst campaign in Europe in at least a decade, and the following challenges seem too far-fetched

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• Hapoel Jerusalem

Ahrela Weisberg

Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 8:30 p.m.

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(Photo: Danny Maron)

One minute and 11 seconds to go, last night (Tuesday) in Limoges, the moment occurred that perfectly illustrated Hapoel Jerusalem's dismal season.

Turk Telecom Ankara was about to complete the job and beat Iguoca in the hall, while the Reds were tied 81-81 in France and needed another tiny boost to sneak into the top 16 at the last minute.

It's over in the airball.

As each basket is perceived as crucial, and every mistake becomes stressful, it turns out that small actions are the ones that have made whole destinies.

These are not just the 19 advantage points that were dropped two weeks ago against the Turks, and which should have secured the ticket to the next stage even then;

Also yesterday the Reds reached the last line when they lead, and surrendered;

A similar thing happened to them in the opening round in Ankara, and these are already three games out of six that were in hand - and ran away.

In retrospect, despite the lack of push from the crowd, it is possible that the decision to give up the home game against Iguoca was also in the back of the group.

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Chris Kramer: "It hurts," Dainius Adumatis: "We made too many mistakes"

To the full article

The start was promising, and since then the injury has left no trace of him.

Malcolm Hill (Photo: Danny Maron)

Less than ten months ago, the holder of the Israeli Cup controlled this factory, and felt that she was on her way to winning - or at least close to it.

It was ranked first among the 32 participants in the index and penalty percentages, and second in points and percentages from the field and penalties.

And this season?

12th place in the index, 13th place in blocks, 14th place in points, 20th place in percentage from the field and 26th place in penalty percentage.

The last time the Reds' European season ended so early led to a shock.

This happened three years ago in total, when they were eliminated from the EuroCup with a balance of 8: 2;

That campaign was accompanied by the dismissal of Photis Katsikaris and his replacement by Modi Maor, which eventually led to the appointment of Oded Katash;

At the end of that season, Uri Alon decided to leave, and Jerusalem abandoned the Euroleague dream and moved to the Champions League.

But this dismissal is different;

The coach has already left, albeit in completely different circumstances, and it is doubtful whether there will be a change in ownership structure in the foreseeable future.

If the current campaign is reminiscent of a past season, then it's more like a 2009 EuroChallenge show.

The team was eliminated in the Eurocup qualifiers by Kazan, dropped out of the secondary factory and flew away as well.

The scorching failure of 2021 is the biggest since that season, which occurred 12 years ago.

In a sense it is even more difficult, because since Jerusalem's joining the Champions League, it has automatically been seen as a candidate to win.

Even if she has not reached the Final Four so far, at least in the home stages she was considered one of the most impressive teams every season.

This time, even that did not happen, and the reasons for this are many and varied.

On the day after the relegation from the Israeli Corona League by Maccabi Rishon Lezion, at the end of July, the club realized that the upcoming season will be different and diminished.

The loss of revenue led to budget cuts and a forced parting from James Paladin.

In Jerusalem, Bagard was seen as a franchise actor, much more than just another foreigner, and the divorce was not natural.

He remained connected to the Reds, and even participated via video call from Spain in the private farewell ceremony held in Katsch's honor two weeks ago.

To try and fill the void left by Paladin, the Reds had to gamble.

And the nature of gambling is that they do not have 100 percent success.

Tariq Phillip, a player of 11.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists last season in the EuroCup, failed to translate his ability from Topash Bursa to Hebrew;

Malcolm Hill, who was supposed to bear mainly the offensive burden from the small forward position, seemed in the first weeks after his arrival as the next theft of the Israeli league, missed a month and a half of activity and had a hard time getting back on track;

And above all, the dependence on Brown stood out - the last man to score a basket at a European factory last year, before the outbreak of the corona plague, and the man who launched the symbolic Airball yesterday.

In the absence of Paladin and John Holland, Jerusalem became almost exclusively dependent on Brown.

And when he misses almost half of the games due to a shoulder injury, and shows more instability - while his back line partners, Tamir Blatt and Chris Kramer, are also far from being a symbol of consistency and uniformity, a team without a leader was revealed to carry it after him.

In his next game in Europe he will already be wearing Pau's green?

Tyson Thomas (Photo: Danny Maron)

In about two weeks, Jerusalem will meet its regular Nemesis in the knockout stages, Rishon Lezion, in the semi-finals of the State Cup.

And what after that?

The Balkan league is over for her, Europe is already lost, and the battles for the national championship are barely visible beyond the horizon, somewhere in four months.

The position in the Premier League has significance this season, due to the move to series instead of the Final Four, but new coach Dainius Adumatis will face a strange challenge that even the club may have forgotten how to deal with: how to keep the team in high tension without money time for such a long time.

When Jerusalem goes up for its next game in the European framework, coming in the fall of 2021, it will look different.

It is doubtful that Blatt will still wear the media;

Many fans are willing to swear that Tyson Thomas will already be in Panathinaikos by then;

It is not inconceivable that Brown will also continue to another station.

It is not at all certain that the Reds will retain the current squad even in the immediate term, and they may prefer to dilute it a bit ahead of the ever-airy game schedule that awaits them now.

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