Summary: Beshiktas - Hapoel Tel Aviv 94:73/Sport1
1.
Hapoel Tel Aviv's locker room last night (Wednesday) was the happiest the Reds have seen since they qualified for the State Cup final at the expense of their city rival two years ago.
Dani Franco's team qualified for the Eurocup quarter-finals from second place in Group A after a professional, physical and emotional swing in recent weeks, and besides the ticket to the last eight in the factory for the second year in a row, they also won a more spacious game schedule in the coming period.
With the support of over 100 Reds in the stands in Ljubljana, Hapoel managed to beat Besiktas smoothly 73:94, in their best defensive game of the season, at exactly the right time.
Hapoel ran away from the Turks at the beginning of the second half and did not allow them to return to the game, when they provided several moves for the highlights in the decisive moments.
Will Cummings led the Reds' scorers with 16 points, as did Tomer Ginat who also added 7 rebounds.
Kyle Alexander and Bar Timor contributed 12 each.
"It was a great game, I'm happy for all of us, we came back to show our ability and we can't wait for the playoffs," Xavier Manford said at the end, with an excited Will Cummings adding after the game on Twitter: "Hats off to all the fans who flew with us to Slovenia."
In the stands at Stojica Arena was also the former minister Yizhar Shai, whose son the late Yaron was killed in an encounter with terrorists on October 7. "Four months have passed since October 7.
A sweeping victory in Ljubljana.
A happy fan approached us and said: 'This victory is for him and for them.'
Hila gave him her shirt, Noni's shirt.
Thank you Hapoel!" Shay tweeted.
2.
Last week was an emotional week for the Reds.
They entered it last Wednesday in Badalona with an uneasy feeling after losing three consecutive games in the Eurocup, losing ground and knowing that one more loss in the last two away games of the season, and they will lose the second place for which they worked so hard all season, and will have to reach the deciding stages of the factory without Domesticity and the play-in phase.
Just then, when they had their backs against the wall, Hapoel got back their two most important foreigners, Jacob Brown and Jaylen Hurd, and the result was a huge victory in Spain and a change in energy.
In the past week, the pressure of losing what they did, turned into excitement and the thought of "just not kicking the bucket", as the Reds would do in the past.
And so, with a special flight organized by the team's management and fans in the stands, Hapoel managed to meet the task against a team that was supposed to play more loosely, but in practice continued to disappoint, and picked up second place, which would also give them another week's margin until at least March 12 without games in Europe, and A possibility to arrive fresher and only five wins away from entering the Euroleague.
Check suitability for treatment
Israeli development: a scientific solution to body acne with over 90% success
In collaboration with Rivka Zaida Laboratories
Time stamp.
Jacob Brown celebrates/official site, Djordje Kostic
3.
Yesterday, with the end of the game, coach Danny Franco was no longer afraid to talk about the desire of the Reds to host the deciding stages of the factory at Shlomo Hall.
In a meeting held last week in Spain, Hapoel spoke openly about their desire with the CEO of the Euroleague, but it seems that as of now this desire is not so realistic, and even if a ceasefire comes into effect in the near future, it is now estimated that European basketball will not return to Israel this season.
Along with the hope of returning For the Israel Games, Hapoel has another hope and that is to host the games in Belgrade, or in another city, with an audience. Currently in Belgrade there is a ban on the entrance of an audience, which is shared by both the factory management and the city's security forces, but Hapoel is pressing to allow the entrance of an audience, as they estimate that the deciding games outside of Israel A large number of fans will arrive in order to push the Reds.
The group is expected to hold talks in the near future with the management of the factory in order to reach understandings and an official decision on the matter.
Not afraid to fantasize.
Franco/Danny Maron
4.
At the quarter-final stage, Hapoel is likely to face a very high obstacle in the form of the Spanish Gran Canaria.
The Spaniards reached the lockout round from third place, but a surprising loss of the Romanian Cluj in Lithuania to Litekblis opened up a possibility for them to finish in second place and automatically qualify for the quarterfinals.
The team from the Canary Islands, the factory champions from last season for those who had time to forget, lost to Budochenost and missed their chance.
On March 5 or 6, they will host Besiktas, whom Hapoel knows very well even from last night, and if they don't stumble, they will make it to an away game against Hapoel, who defeated them last season at Hachial Shlomo.
"This is our luck. Even when we advance to the quarter-finals, it should be against the toughest opponent there is," Hapoel said with a smile last night.
Gran Canaria is ranked fourth in the Spanish league with a record of 7:14, but there is no doubt that it is having a worse season than last season.
They have lost three of their last five away games in the Eurocup, and are generally better at home.
Many familiar players from last season and the seasons before are playing in Gran Canaria, including the Israeli Sylvain Landsberg, who averages 8.9 points in 15.5 minutes in the Eurocup.
The team is led by the great Argentine Nico Rossino with 13 points per game, but he is the only one scoring in double figures for Jaka Lakovic's team.
Other familiar players are the American-Polish guard AJ Slaughter, the French center Andrew Albisi, the Americans under Slim Ben Lammers, John Shurna and Ethan Happ and the young and talented Croatian Roko Perkacin.
The next opponent?
Jaka Lakovic/Danny Maron
5.
Today, Hapoel Tel Aviv will return to Israel on a flight with its happy fans and will have time off until lunchtime training on Friday, which will be the first before the Tel Aviv derby at Hichal Menorah on Sunday.
Unlike the previous derby, to which Hapoel appeared with four foreigners, Dani Franco now has seven foreigners at his disposal, and it will be interesting to see how he chooses to use his wide squad.
The derby will be the first of three games next week for the Reds who will meet Hapoel Afula away on Wednesday and then on Saturday night they will host Hapoel Holon.
More on the same topic:
Hapoel Tel Aviv basketball