Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 102-98 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the championship series, moving to within 40 minutes of the title. The defending side overcame a shaky start, when it fell behind by 14 points in less than five minutes and failed to score early, before settling down and completing a big comeback.
The coaching staff kept urging patience during the early timeout breaks, telling the players not to panic and to wait for the shots to start falling. The performance was led by Elijah Lundberg, who finished with 25 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds, with a plus-minus impact that produced a 32 efficiency rating in 28 minutes. Team members praised his calm and leadership, saying, "Elijah was great. He brought a lot of experience and composure to this game, he takes a lot of responsibility and made good decisions."
Maccabi also got double-digit scoring from four more players, Roman Sorkin had 21 points and 5 rebounds, Jimmy Clark scored 12 points in 12 minutes, Jalen Hord added 14 points and 6 rebounds against tight defense, and Oshae Brissett posted a strong double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The team used only nine players because of injuries and may get Loni Walker back for Game 3, after he missed the last five games. Clark also played limited minutes because of a muscle issue, while Tamir Blatt is not expected back because the club does not want to worsen his calf injury.
Coach Oded Kattash said managing the short rotation is difficult, especially when the team has to play unfamiliar lineups with only one ball-handler. He said the challenge forces Maccabi to be more creative, both offensively and defensively. Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday, at Maccabi's home court, where the team could clinch another championship. The message from the club was clear, "We have to win the next game, we have to take what belongs to us," and, "We need to go into the game thinking and acting as if we are down 2-0."
