In the midst of a winning streak and with wonderful momentum, Hapoel Tel Aviv met Maccabi Tel Aviv yesterday (Sunday) as part of the Winner Cup final, but unfortunately for the Reds, they encountered a difficult obstacle in the form of the Yellows, and surrendered to them 88:84.
"It's this kind of game with a very big charge inside. We came here as a team that believes they can win this game, a little too much faith," Danny Franco said at the end, "We had a bad first half on both sides of the field. Despite this, we were behind by 11 points at the half, we managed in the second half to realize the feeling we had that it was only a matter of 2-3 minutes of our concentration on the details and we could turn the game around and win it after a bad first half.
The red crowd.
Natash in the second half, photo: Alan Shiver
The club was happy to see the wonderful performance of Xavier Manford, who stood out in red with 23 points, 4 rebounds and 3 rebounds.
In the absence of Jacoben Brown, the guard took command, although on the night of the game his participation was in doubt due to a sprained ankle.
Also, the club expresses optimism about the medical condition of Jacob Brown, the star of the team, and believes that he will be fit for the important away game against Turk Telecom in the third round of the Eurocup.
"We played for the first time without Jacoben and that's something that will probably happen in the future. It's something I wanted to try but I didn't plan for it to happen now," adds Franco.
"We had a bad first half and despite that we managed to realize the feeling we had. That we only need a few good minutes to turn the game around," said the team after the match.
A tight derby in Hadera, photo: Alan Shiver
In the club, we marked the color defense as the one that cost them in the game by falling behind early.
"We had a problem in the paint, we weren't aggressive enough there. If Poithers is an outstanding player and he didn't go to the line today, it's on us. Instead of making 17 shots from the field he should have made 17 free throws, we should have done a better job. It's disappointing , but in the end it's a title. It's a pre-season championship if you don't take it. That's what I told the players," Danny Franco concluded.
Now, the team will start preparing for the next challenge, the away match in Turkey against Telecom Turk on Tuesday, as part of the third round of the Eurocup.
"This is the most important game for us this week, captain Bar Timor concluded.
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