The stunning ending of the game caught me from combining two very primitive emotions - pride and jealousy.
Proud to be a Hapoel Holon fan for 50 years, from the moment I understood what to do with the ball.
And envy of all the members of the Holon delegation that conquered Strasbourg and returned with the ticket to the European Final Four at a super quality factory.
Anyone who has ever been a part of such a club in such a class, knows how fulfilling, rewarding and exciting is the journey back home, from a deciding game in which you won and broke another glass ceiling on your way to fame.
I was dying to be there in the locker room, in the hotel, on the bus, on flights.
It's the ultimate in sporting fun.
And there are few life experiences that come close to this hi.
Hapoel Holon celebrates a double victory, Photo: Champions League website
It's a victory for a talented team of players who play basketball differently, but happy and unique.
It's a win by a smart coach who came out of a free fall in his previous team and took a team in a partial fall and together they issued a stock that only rises from peak to peak.
It is a victory of an army of jealous fans who are addicted to his team and devoutly accompany it to every pitch in the country and in Europe.
But above all, it's a victory of management.
And no man like Chairman Eitan Lanciano, who 20 years ago was part of the tiny fan group that accompanied Holonia to away games in the poor halls of the national league, is able to see this achievement in the right perspective.
Only those who have been there always understand how wonderful it is.
Hapoel Holon does not have a professional manager in an official position, and the decisions are made by a limited management cabinet, which knows that any change could be fatal.
Holon does not have the economic surplus and margins of security that Maccabi Tel Aviv or Hapoel Jerusalem have, so its every decision must be bingo.
And yet, the solid financial backing given to it by the Yonet and Shlomo Isaac team, as well as the fans themselves, strengthens the management and allows it to go big.
And there have been a lot of good decisions this season.
Frederick Bourdieu releases all the air at the end, Photo: Champions League website
The long-term signing of Chris Johnson who is the anchor, the return of Tyros Maggie who is the Lightning, the addition of Ragland who is the best coordinator in the factory, the release of Ogden and Gray, who did not match, and the choice to go for seven foreigners to compete for all the titles.
As a lover of Israeli basketball, the high number of foreigners bothers me, but what matters is the identity, and the continuity from the previous season of Johnson, Maggie, Pnini, Bourdieu and Misgav produces identification and a deep connection for the fans and the management.
The most significant decision was of course the replacement of the coach.
Against all sporting logic, to fire a foreign and elegant coach who built the team in the summer and received praise (at least for the defense), in a coach who has just been fired from the worst team in the local league?
And do it in the middle of a play-in series, after a home loss?
But it was the decision that changed the season.
The management felt it had a rare talent quality on the roster, but this was limited and hidden by the coach’s conservative approach.
It also was not a basketball that suited the spirit of the club.
Hello, this is Holonia, in the tradition of Elimelech he is the king.
Run my horse.
Frederic Bourdieu in crowded words with Johnson,
Guy Goodes looks today like he was born in the Purple Club, and not in the Red Sister Club from Haifa.
In his wisdom, he simply released the players to run free and throw a three with every available look, a move that is very similar to the change that Avi Even made in Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Holon has become a college team, and sometimes plays handball style around the arc of the three.
Sometimes it's a bit difficult to watch basketball, but it's very effective, masks the absence of a dominant high, and allows for exchange defenses and outside firepower that there are few like it in all of Europe.
We made HISTORY 👑🔝💜 pic.twitter.com/xLuMESzUfn
- Hapoel Holon (@HapoelHolonBC) April 12, 2022
Winning with (only) nine threes is very borderline for Holon.
And with a 20-rebound deficit (47:27) and mostly a large amount of second chances for the French, it looked very bad in the first half.
But when every player except Kaiser can score a three at any moment, there is always someone who rises.
This time Maggie returned, and Regland took, in a game that was an almost exact replica of Goodes' first game for the team, in which Holon returned from a 17-game deficit in Istanbul to beat Besiktas and return the series to Holon.
There it started, in France it continued, but it did not end.
The road is still open along.
There is more to achieve.
Bilbao, Holonia on the way.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us