Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 102-98 on Thursday in Game 2 of the finals, a dramatic victory that moved Maccabi closer to its 58th championship. The game featured a huge performance from Hapoel’s Yam Madar, who finished with 34 points and 10 assists, but it was not enough against strong showings from Iffe Lundberg, Roman Sorkin and Oshay Brissett.
On Sports Channel’s postgame show, analysts Gur Shelef and Ofer Shelach said the deciding factor was coaching and defense. Shelef said Dimitris Itoudis tried to surprise Maccabi by putting Ish Wainright on Sorkin defensively, and that it worked early, but in the end, “Oded Kattz was the one who surprised Itoudis and Hapoel with a zone defense.”
Shelef argued that Hapoel scored 98 points but still failed because it could not stop Maccabi from reaching 102. He said Madar had an outstanding game, but “it was not enough” because Hapoel was missing Vasilije Micic and Jonatan Motley, and because, in his words, “nobody knew how to stand and defend properly.” He added that Kattz won with “the shortest blanket he had all season,” referring to Maccabi’s depleted rotation.
Shelef also noted that Hapoel spent much of the season without Madar, Guy Palatin, Tomer Ginat and Bar Timor, yet depended on Madar late in the year. He said he was not ready to call the series over. Shelach said Kattz did “an enormous job” managing minutes, fouls and tactics, getting the most from players such as Will Rayman, John DiBartolomeo, Lundberg, Brissett and Sorkin, while Hapoel had no other player besides Madar who rose to the occasion.
