Hapoel Tel Aviv are preparing to host Maccabi Tel Aviv tonight, Thursday at 8:50 p.m., in Game 2 of the Israeli Basketball Premier League playoff final series, with the match shown live on 5SPORT. Maccabi lead the best-of-series 1-0 after their 96-75 win over Hapoel on Tuesday.
The expectation at Menora Mivtachim Arena is that about 9,000 fans from both teams will attend. Hapoel have issued roughly 8,000 tickets, with about 1,000 more allocated to Maccabi supporters.
The atmosphere is expected to be the reverse of Game 1, which Maccabi hosted on Tuesday and drew 8,278 spectators. More than 7,000 of those were Maccabi fans, along with about 1,000 Hapoel supporters.
Hapoel, coached by Dimitris Itoudis, are trying to level the series after the heavy defeat and set up the next stage of the title fight.