Maccabi Tel Aviv Clinches Title After Defensive Breakdown Leaves Roman Sorkin Open

Maccabi Tel Aviv won the championship on Tuesday night, beating Hapoel Tel Aviv 83-79, and the deciding sequence has drawn attention for a chain of defensive errors rather than a single brilliant play.

The key moment came with Maccabi leading 76-75. Tai Odiase went to the free-throw line, missed the first shot and made the second. Hapoel then took too long to launch its next possession, a delay that gave Maccabi time to set its defense.

Video from the possession showed Iffe Lundberg moving the ball up the court slowly, taking about four full seconds just to cross midcourt and nearly six seconds and six dribbles before making the first pass. Hapoel was also set up with three big men, Iman Wainright, Tomer Ginat and Odiase, while Wainright was assigned to pressure Lundberg instead of staying with Roman Sorkin.

That switch confused Odiase, who left Sorkin alone in the corner. At the same time, Dimitris Itoudis was walking to the scorer’s table to request a timeout, and by the time Vasilije Micic shouted for Odiase to get back to Sorkin, the pass was already on its way. Sorkin, who had played poorly, still took the shot and buried it. The result sealed the title for Maccabi and triggered a great deal of self-examination for Hapoel.