Maccabi Tel Aviv takes 2-0 Finals lead as podcast debates officiating and team flaws

Maccabi Tel Aviv moved to a 2-0 lead in the Israeli playoff final series against Hapoel Tel Aviv on Thursday night, winning a dramatic Game 2, 102-98. The result and the controversy around the officiating became the focus of the latest episode of the basketball podcast “MatchUp,” hosted by veteran Israeli coach Pini Gershon and analyst Aharaleh Weisberg.

The guest was Haim Tenami, a Hapoel Tel Aviv fan, and Gershon was blunt in his criticism of the way the game was being discussed. “You cannot play like this with the referees,” he said. “Hapoel Tel Aviv has an inferiority complex with officiating. Why did you leave that out? Referees once told me they can hurt you even when you do not feel it.” He added that saying “the referees are screwing me” removes responsibility from the players and the coach.

Gershon also argued that Hapoel did not play correctly and pointed to Zach Hankins’ impact inside, saying that a player “playing for a pittance” was outdueling stars costing millions. He said Hankins is “a very nice guy” who was dunking on them. Gershon concluded that Maccabi Tel Aviv needs to sign a tall center for next season, someone over 2.00 meters, to help with rebounding.

The Be.po-produced podcast is broadcast live on ynet, on the Facebook pages of Be.po and ynet, and on Be.po’s YouTube channel. After the live show, the episode will be available on all podcast apps.