The stage was set for the first ever Tel Aviv Euroleague Derby.

Hapoel Tel Aviv came in as clear favorites after having won their opening two games while Maccabi Tel Aviv had lost theirs.

The Reds and their fans knew that this was going to be a crushing blow to the yellow-and-blue empire with thoughts that they would come away from their home game in Sofia with a massive win.

Hapoel entered the matchup clicking on all cylinders while Maccabi were in deep, deep trouble.

Dimitrios Itoudis’s team saw this as an opportunity to chalk up a victory for the ages and one that would tell the European basketball scene that there was now a new world order in Israeli basketball.

However, that’s not exactly what happened.

Oded Katash’s crew came in and battled Hapoel toe-to-toe, shot for shot, loose ball for loose ball. With a tremendous amount of effort on both sides of the ball as well as a terrific game plan from the bench boss, Maccabi found a way to be the ones coming back to Israel with the W in their back pocket just ahead of their Israeli league opener down in Beer Sheva.

Maccabi out-hustled, outplayed and just simply were the better team on this night to take the hard-earned win.

Hapoel will have to take a good hard look in the mirror prior to heading to the Holy Land for their domestic league opener against Kiryat Ata and see what they had done right and a lot of what they had done wrong in the Derby loss in Bulgaria.

Lonnie Walker showed why Maccabi wanted him to be the star, Jeff Dowtin’s clutch shooting down the stretch is why the yellow-and-blue inked him to a contact while Tamir Blatt led the attack, Roman Sorkin, Jaylen Hoard, Marcio Santos and TJ Leaf played their roles to perfection.

But Oshae Brissett was without a doubt the unsung hero with incredible defense, stellar scoring along with his toughness and will to take on guys one-on-one at both sides of the court, shut down the Hapoel offense time and time again.

Katash said after the game that they have a long way to go and that’s very true with a new team but as Walker mentioned Maccabi has a ton of talent but they are also a new team who are trying to figure it out but that the sky’s the limit for the assembled squad.

Hapoel did not look like the same team that won their first two Euroleague games and although Itoudis said in his post game remarks that Maccabi was playing for their lives, his side just didn’t show up with the same battle and passion that was needed to come away with the victory.

Defensively the reds were lax and allowed the yellow-and-blue to do as they pleased in the second half, especially in the final frame and as Colin Malcolm said following the game, they let good shooters shoot and in essence that shot themselves in the foot.

Whether it was Walker or Dowtin, the Hapoel defense were unable to shut the down and when the latter heated up as the clocked kept ticking down it was curtains for the hosts.

When a team makes mistakes at the Euroleague level, it’s very simple that you’ll be punished and Itoudis said that loud and clear.

Vasilije Micic committed 6 of the team’s 16 turnovers which is just way, way too much and despite scoring 14 points, Maccabi and Brissett for plenty of the game nullified the former MVP as the Serbian was unable to wave his magic wand and will his team to victory.

Johnathan Motley has looked like a shell of the version everyone saw last season and is not close to being the dominant big man that the team had at their service as they captured the EuroCup. But the loss isn’t just on those two, it was a team effort, an effort that we saw Maccabi put in to win the game and ensure they could quiet the critics down, which is exactly what was done.

Maccabi showed character and worked hard while putting in a huge effort and that’s not to say that Hapoel didn’t do the same, but at the end of the Derby there was just one team standing when the smoke subsided and that was the 6x European champion.

Hapoel has plenty to learn and Itoudis has a star studded roster. There is no question that he is not a happy camper after the defeat, a defeat that he could have done without, especially against their city rivals. But he must also be content that his team is 2-1 after the opening three games and that this Derby loss came now, very early on in the campaign and not later on in they season whenever there would be much, much more at stake.

While Maccabi certainly desperately needed this win and they will improve as the season continues on or as Brissett said that they just keep it rolling, Hapoel was taught a good lesson and one that came perhaps just at at the right time for Itoudis and his charges.