Hapoel Holon ended last night (Wednesday) the first round in the Winner Basket League with an away victory 81:83 over Hapoel Haifa at the Bromma Hall and secured a place in the top four in the table ahead of the cup draw that will be held next week with the help of a wonderful game by Joe Ragland with 24 points and 7 assists.
However, the champion's historic victory in Carmel, the first since February of 2000, was not the main story of the evening, but the departure of the team's guard and its main points provider - Eric Green, who left the Purples at the end of his temporary contract and signed with the Montenegrin Budochenost Podgorica who plays in the Eurocup .
Although the possibility that he would leave at the end of his contract was real, and the date 12/28 was the day it expired, the champion's staff and fans hoped that they would be able to bridge the financial gaps and convince the veteran scorer to stay and sign a contract extension until the end of the season.
Green, who took to the floor knowing that he would be playing his last game in the purple uniform, helped his team win with a wonderful ability in the final minutes and 15 points, which were a parting gift to the purple crowd and his team.
After the game, the guard still tried to maintain diplomacy and sent messages here and there, but his body language conveyed something clear and heralded the future.
"We'll see what happens tomorrow, I just want to say that I love Holon and love being here, I'm excited to see what the future holds for me. My experience here was good and I really want to stay, we'll see what happens," Green said at the end of the match.
Despite a long period of trying to reach an agreement on his continuation in the team and relatively small gaps with Holonia, Green and his team did not rush to sign, listened to the offers and arrived at the judgment day with two tangible offers in hand - the Romanian Cluj and the Montenegrin Budochenost Podgorica, two teams that play in the Euroleague.
Throughout his time in the Holy Land, Green repeated two prominent messages - "I like it here and I want to stay", on the one hand, but "this is business and I know I can still play at the highest levels".
Yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon, Cluj got out of the race when they announced the signing of the guard Casey Sheppard in the team and actually paved the way for the signing of Green in the Montenegrin team.
"It's true, Eric is very serious and we made him an offer, but we couldn't pay him the amounts he asked for or were offered and we had to back out of the deal," officials at the club told Israel Hayom.
A few minutes after the interview at the end of the game, and two minutes after his contract expired at 00:02, the team from Montenegro announced the signing of the American scorer and put an end to a successful but short term of three months in purple.
Hapoel Holon said goodbye to the player in an official statement: "Eric Green has informed the club of his decision to exercise the option to leave his district.
Despite the desire of both parties to continue the relationship, in recent days the player received a significantly higher offer that he could not refuse.
We thank Eric for his great contribution to the team, both on and off the field, and wish him great success in his future endeavors."
"I love you all, thank you for all the love and support. I want you to know that if I don't stay, you will always stay in my heart, I can't thank you enough for how you accepted me into your family and showed me love," Green said goodbye to Holon fans.
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