Hapoel Tel Aviv opened the Israeli Basketball League playoff finals on Tuesday with a painful 96-75 defeat to Maccabi Tel Aviv, despite arriving full of confidence after eliminating Hapoel Jerusalem in the semifinals. Maccabi controlled the game from the first quarter in front of its home crowd at Yad Eliyahu, even without Lonnie Walker, while Dimitris Itoudis’ team repeatedly turned the ball over and never recovered.
Club owner Ofer Yannay criticized his own team during the game, posting one word on X, “Soft.” After a late-game incident involving Hapoel fans and Maccabi forward Jaylen Hoard, Yannay tagged the player and accused him of leaving the court to threaten a fan seated courtside. He wrote that the referees did nothing, said Hoard should not be allowed to play in the rest of the series, and said he expects a response from the Israeli Basketball Association.
Itoudis sounded unusually blunt afterward. “I want to apologize to the fans. Thank you for coming,” he said, adding that Maccabi “were better” and that “this is not Hapoel Tel Aviv.” He said the team will do everything to look better in the next game, noting that Maccabi fought harder and scored many points on second-chance opportunities.
The coach said he remains optimistic but acknowledged that no player met his normal standard. He also declined to say what will happen with Othello Hunter, saying Hunter will train and the staff will then decide which five foreign players to register for the next game. Hapoel will host Game 2 in two days.
