Maccabi Tel Aviv entered Thursday night’s Game 2 of the playoff final series after a dominant 96-75 win in the opener, seeking a second straight victory and a 2-0 lead on the way to the title. Hapoel Tel Aviv, now hosting, was trying to recover and keep the series alive. Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday.
Maccabi coach Oded Katash made no changes to his roster. Loni Walker was left out again, while Tamir Blatt and Gur Lavi remained unavailable. Jimmy Clark, who suffered muscle cramps in Game 1, and Oshae Brissett, who took a hit during that game, were both fit and included in the squad.
On the Hapoel side, Dimitris Itoudis again kept Dan Oturu out of the roster. He also chose Igor Koleshov over Itay Segev, whose father died a few days earlier.
The game opened with the same starting five for Maccabi, John DiBartolomeo, Iffe Lundberg, Will Rayman, Jaylen Hoard and Roman Sorkin. Hapoel started with Yam Madar, Vasilije Micic, Ish Wainright, Tomer Ginat and Ty Odiase.
