How beautiful and cruel is the sport.
Amazing how a single basket can change a season, and even more than a season, of a team, of a coach, of an association, of thousands of fans.
If Hapoel Holon had won in Cluj, or if Drushpaka did not sell the last game to the Romans, we would not have reached this series at all, and Holon would now train with Maurizio Buscalia (assuming he did not lose to Haifa in the cup, you know) towards the top 16.
But Holon lost the first game in the series, made a dramatic change on the lines, and turned the crisis into an opportunity and an outburst, to be recorded in the club's gold book.
The wonders of fate.
And the big basket this time was of course Guy Panini's marvelous basket, which brought the series home.
And secondly, Holonia will not fall at home.
Guy Goodes met the crazy task assigned to him, winning three consecutive elimination games in a week (!).
In some training not much can be changed, so Guy studied the team while playing.
To his credit, he lives the game, changes, tries, makes mistakes, corrects.
He tried a regional, got a quick three and got off.
Snatched a few easy baskets from Jefferson and mostly fouls for the tall ones, and decided to send him a double-up, which created a purple run up to 15 points.
But then he did not insist on pressure and outbursts, but rested like his team, and instead of finishing the game the difference dropped to 2.
And yet, Goodes won the coaches' match-up - after all, the Turkish coach won away, and has already led 17 at home, and still lost the series.
And in series like this, victory is not the most important thing.
Victory is the only thing that matters.
Goods.
Live the game, Photo: Alan Schieber
The biggest change that Goodes has brought to the group is Adam Smith version 2.0.
In the initial version it has almost been released.
And today he is the most important player.
In his first five games he barely scored, contributed a zero index, and earned compassionate looks.
In the last four games (the series plus the trophy) he has averaged 14 points, around 50% of all ranges, and he already mentions last season's Tyros Maggie, who was also on his way to Ben Gurion Airport in the middle of the season. I suggest management sign him now for two years. A person within himself is a guard (thanks to RA).
So after the intensive care unit has been successful, the patient should be returned to normal.
Hapoel Holon is a girl who behaves like an old woman.
A small, fast and smart team that plays like it's big, heavy and stupid.
Mostly on offense.
It does not suit the players, it does not suit the character of the club, and especially does not suit the audience.
At the end of fateful games what determines are the habits, and the coach has very little influence.
It's just that Holon has no such offensive habits at all.
Buscalia built an excellent defense that remained, but the attack is dull, and is based on dribbling, pick and roll and shelling threes.
The three baskets that dominated the game were one-on-one penetrations by Ragland and Smith, with no help from the team, no forward movement, no advantage over the defense.
Lots of luck.
But glad that luck went with the good ones.
There is nothing more beautiful than her
In the whole series, Holon looked better only in the few moments when she ran and pressed, and for the most part you felt that she was much less good than the Turks.
In the slow and digging game the Turks had a lot more tools, height and power, and throughout most of the series there was a feeling that Holon would not be able to win.
Also yesterday, Holon won only in the second quarter.
And that was enough for her, barely.
And now, after success and breathing air, Goodes must handle the offense, build dedication-based movements, and most importantly, encourage his team to run at every opportunity.
He has good tools.
Quiet, renovating.
Holon players celebrate, yesterday, Photo: Alan Shiber
It is difficult to explain how important this victory is for the club: building a lasting tradition of success in Europe.
An attraction for players who want to play in it.
Financial reinforcement from hosting three more games at the Top 16. A tremendous confidence shot to the management, who made an extreme decision and received total positive feedback.
And especially cultivating a new generation of fans, who will join the existing ones and fill the hall where magic happens, and which manages to forget (even if not completely) the mythological trash hall.
For them everything is done.
And there is nothing like the management people, who were all fans who knocked on the bins in the bins, to understand and cherish this.
Nothing is taken for granted.
No success is received with equanimity.
Every victory is a celebration.
Holonia - there are beauties of it, but there are none as beautiful as it is.
Were we wrong?
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