Givat HaShlosha: The Change That Sparked Mader and Micic

20:50, live on SPORT5: one adjustment brings the maximum out of Hapoel Tel Aviv. Sport 5 analysis published: 11.06.26, 18:45 Photo: Sport 5

In recent weeks, Hapoel Tel Aviv has been Yam Madar’s team. The point guard, who went through ups and downs throughout the season in Europe and in the league, has stepped up, starting with 41 points in the Tel Aviv derby in the final game of the regular season. Tonight (Thursday, 21:00, live on Channel 5), he will try to lead his team to another win against Hapoel Jerusalem.

The last game of the regular season was only the beginning. Madar scored 20 points (7-of-9 on two-pointers) in the surprising loss to Maccabi Rishon LeZion, 19 points (6-of-10 from the field) in the decisive game against them, and 25 points against Hapoel Jerusalem. Madar’s confidence has risen significantly, and so have his percentages from beyond the arc. Madar. A refreshing change (Allen Schieber) | Photo: Sport 5

Until the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv, Madar had made 24 of 69 from beyond the arc, 30.3 percent. Since that game? 22 of 33, 67 percent, more than double. He is at 56.5 percent from beyond the arc in the playoffs, including 5 of 10 in the game against Hapoel Jerusalem in the Arena. That does not include 15 points in 18 minutes, and 2 of 3 from three-point range, in the first game against Hapoel Jerusalem, the one that did not go to the finish and was stopped at 67:77 after three quarters.

At the same time, Hapoel Tel Aviv is Vasilije Micic’s team. The most expensive player in the history of Israeli basketball has drawn plenty of criticism throughout the season over his attitude, weight, and more, but he has reached a new level. It began with 16 points and 10 assists in the derby against Maccabi Tel Aviv, only his seventh league game of the season. In the playoffs, we saw him score 18 points with six assists at Beit Maccabi against Rishon LeZion, 23 in the third game, and win the second game with a brilliant play.

In the clutch moments of the season, and דווקא without the team’s two best players in 2025/26, Elijah Bryant and Dan Oturu, who have yet to play in this series, the two point guards who had been in the headlines for negative reasons have become Hapoel’s two leading players. The ones who won an away derby at Menora Mivtachim Arena, the ones putting the team in the best position to win a championship, apparently, since 1969.

How did this happen דווקא now? The simple answer relates to the character of the two, to the winners they have been for years in the local context, in Madar’s case, and the European one, in Micic’s case. There are players who simply rise in the clutch, and that is the story of the two of them, as well as Jared Harper on the other side. Madar’s shooting surge defies all statistical logic and begins with character, in a run of games that reminds us why he is one of the best Israeli players today, and rightly competing for the title of the best Israeli player outside the NBA.

The same can be said of Micic, who struggled against Real Madrid and came under criticism. By the standards of our Premier League, the defense is different and he is given freedom to create, which has turned him into the primary ball-handler and a bit more free. Here too, one can praise the mentality of someone who, even in his days at Anadolu, drew criticism for his level over large stretches of the season and rose at the right time. That is one explanation. Premier League basketball Did you find a wording error?