Hapoel Tel Aviv to Sit Daan Otoro for Game 3 of the Final

Game 3 of the Israeli Basketball Premier League playoff final will be played Sunday at 8:50 p.m. at Menora Mivtachim Arena, where Maccabi Tel Aviv hosts Hapoel Tel Aviv. Maccabi leads the best-of-series 2-0 and can clinch its 58th Israeli championship with another win, which would leave Hapoel without a title this season.

Hapoel will again be without center Daan Otoro, who returned to Israel last week and took part in several practices. After consulting the medical staff, the club decided not to dress its leading big man, who had not trained consistently from early May until late last week. The team said the risk of a serious injury, one that could also affect next season, was too high.

Hapoel evaluated the situation closely and chose not to take that chance despite trailing 2-0 in the series. Ty Odiasi and Jonathan Motley are expected to shoulder the load inside. Odiasi played well in Game 2 even while dealing with a shoulder injury, while Motley has had two underwhelming games so far and was the player who likely would have been left out if Otoro had been cleared.

Hapoel still hopes to pull off an upset, force the series to a fourth game, and host that matchup on Tuesday.