The Tel Aviv derby final between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv began on Tuesday night at Yad Eliyahu, returning to a best-of-five format for the first time in 21 years. Maccabi, which has won all 11 previous city final series, including the last two played in this format, entered with home-court advantage and a perfect playoff record, although it had lost three of four meetings with Hapoel this season.
Maccabi coach Oded Kattash again left Loni Walker out of the roster, along with injured Tamir Blatt and Gur Lavy. Hapoel brought back Tai Odiase after he missed last week with an injury, and he was included instead of Deandre Cooks. Dan Oturu, who returned to Israel on Monday, was also left out of the squad.
Itai Segev was registered despite the death of his father, Yossi, after a long illness. Before tipoff, Maccabi opened with Ish Wainright, John DiBartolomeo, Will Rayman, Jaylen Hoard and Roman Sorkin, while Dimitris Itoudis started with Yam Madar, Vasilije Micic, Ish Wainright, Tomer Ginat and Tai Odiase. After the first quarter, the game remained 0-0.
