Micić and Mader Take Charge, Maccabi Tel Aviv Rolls, and Hapoel Holon Misses Its Chance

Double Dribble, Episode 55 / Walla editorial team.

Watch Double Dribble. In the episode "Playing with Fire," we discussed playoff semifinals that manage to be just as stormy off the court as they are on it. We opened with the series between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem, where Game 2 was played before it was even clear what had become of Game 1. In all that chaos, we also got great basketball, with Yam Madar looking like the owner of the place, Vasilije Micić burying a huge clutch three, and Chris Jones waking up just in time. On the other side, Jerusalem fought with a depleted roster after four foreign players left, but got a very difficult night from Jared Harper דווקא when it needed him most.

From there we moved to Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Holon, in a series that also opened under the shadow of the Israeli reality, without a crowd at Yad Eliyahu, without Lonnie Walker, who did not come to the arena, and without Oshay Brissett, who suited up but did not play. Even so, Maccabi found a way to run over the court with only seven rotation players, with Tamir Blatt and Faye Lundberg taking responsibility, and 107 points that were enough for a 0:1 lead. On the other side, Holon scored, fought, and together with Maccabi broke a shared playoff three-point record, but again was left with the feeling that if it cannot take advantage of an opportunity even on a night like this, maybe this is simply not its series.

We also touched on the Omer Mayer saga and the tense Greek final series. In the studio, Dror Hoffman, Aharaleh Weisberg and Roy Zuckerman (Zuki).