Maccabi Tel Aviv survived a tough test from Maccabi Ramat Gan who were the better team for more than 35 minutes of play. However, while the yellow-and-blue may have escaped with an 84-81 win at Yad Eliyahu, they had one issue after the next as the red flags that have already been waving in the air were at the forefront for everyone to see loud and clear.

Clifford Omoruyi made his Israeli league debut and played 4 minutes in which he scored a single free throw. There had been plenty of talk that the big man was going to be loaned out ad would not end up playing with Maccabi. But lo and behold, he was Cliff registered for the domestic competition which means he will most probably remain as a part of the team going forward as there is a 10 import registration limit in the local league.

Jeff Dowtin Jr. played all of 6 minutes and contributed a paltry 2 points after having been one of the club’s big summer signings. To say the guard has been a massive disappointment would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. He has been a disaster for the most part on both ends of the floor and hasn’t fit in. In the Israeli league he has averaged just 6.3 points which is nowhere near what anyone had thought Dowtin would contribute.

Lonnie Walker did not see the floor in the final frame during money time and despite scoring 15 points over the course of 20 minutes of play, that is a stunner in itself. The most heralded summer signing not being a key player in crunch time is one of the biggest shockers one could imagine. Walker was brought in to be the superstar and the man and yet with Maccabi behind heading into the fourth quarter, he was benched. That’s just not good.

Gur Lavy hasn’t yet made an impact of any kind in the Israeli league and has barely been listed in the Euroleague. When Maccabi brought the Israeli Player of the Year in, the thought was that he would make an impact on the local scene while gaining experience in Europe. That has not been the case.

Jaylen Hoard has been a shell of his former self for the most part this season having barely played in the Israeli league and not putting up the same numbers he did last year in the Euroleague. The forward was with France during this past summer’s Eurobasket, but he’s got to make a bigger impact should Maccabi have any designs of having some sort of success this season.

The fans were out in full force last night protesting Danny Federman’s ownership with banners demanding he sell his shares. It looked ugly, very ugly. It wasn’t one small sign or two, it was a slew of them that made a very negative impact to say the least.

The bottom line is that Oded Katash’s Maccabi Tel Aviv seems to be a total mess. Although they are 4-0 in Israeli league play, the 2-6 record in the Euroleague is just not going to cut it. The squad has not looked the way it should and while there have been some very close continental clashes, wins are what is most important and if one looks at where the yellow-and-blue sits today, they are going to have one tough season ahead.

There are so many question marks with this version of Maccabi that one of Batman’s archenemies, the Riddler would have a tough time topping this puzzle.

Hapoel Holon didn’t miss a beat without point guard Derrick Walton Jr. in their 82-70 win at Nes Ziona as Israeli Roi Rosenberg put in some solid minutes for Danny Franco’s squad. Despite not scoring in the 11 minutes of action he did dish out a pair of assists and played some hard nosed defense as he impressed all those in attendance.

Rosenberg played for Maccabi Shoham in the 3rd division the last two seasons and captured the double with the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth team. With Holon, Rosenberg is getting a terrific opportunity and is also taking advantage of it playing alongside grizzled veterans including Jordan McRae and Xavier Munford.

Franco had no fear whatsoever checking Rosenberg into the Nes Ziona game and his trust paid off with a fine showing by the 21-year old.

Following the game, Rosenberg spoke to the assembled media about the season to date with the purples, “I’m very happy we won, it was a very important game that could have been a real trap for us. We played pretty well for most of the game. So far, I feel like I’m getting a huge opportunity from Danny, and I’m trying to give as much as I can: to hustle, defend and do what I know how to do. I’m really grateful for that so far and hope to keep it up.”

“I know Munford and McRae — among my friends they’re considered legends of the sport. The first time I saw them it was a bit of a shock and honestly, it still is. They’re great people even before the basketball part and it’s fun to be around them. The locker room is very healthy, very positive everyone treats each other well.”

Keep an eye out for Rosenberg and how he progresses as it should be an interesting ride to say the least.

Hapoel Jerusalem has been struggling for sure and they needed some timely shooting against Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion to escape with a 100-93 overtime win. The reds needed to desperately find a way to come out of Beit Maccabi with a victory and with the score 86-83 Khadeen Carrington came out of a timeout with a triple that knotted the game up to send it to the extra session.

The happiest person in the arena was without a question their Head Coach Yonatan Alon who has not had an easy time since he and the club came back from a date in Brooklyn with the Nets. Alon drew up the play for Carrington and he nailed the shot to keep him in the game that ended up heading to overtime where Jerusalem overwhelmed a wiped out Rishon team and that was that.

One of the key players in the contest was Yovel Zoosman who has been having a rough season but came to the fore with a 17 point effort going 4/8 from deep to go along with 7 boards. Zoos was well aware that he had been struggling and that Jerusalem was so close to losing yet another league game ahead of a massive EuroCup clash with Bahcesehir and then the Winner Cup final against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

“It was very close to being our loss,” Zoosman said. “If Deeno hadn’t made that 3-pointer, we would have been in serious trouble. Rishon Le’Zion is a tough team and it’s hard to beat them in their home arena. We did the right things at the end and I felt they were already tired. Now we need to stabilize ourselves with fewer ups and downs, build some consistency.”

“As for myself, I’m in a better period now. In a player’s career there are ups and downs, that’s part of the game. When I’m aggressive, good things happen for me and for the team. Bahçeşehir is a very strong team, with a 5–0 record in the EuroCup and 4–1 in the Turkish League. It won’t be easy, but we’ll come prepared. After that, we’ll focus on the Winner Cup Final against Hapoel Tel Aviv,” he concluded.

Over at Rishon, one player that has showed what he can do without a doubt is JJ Kaplan who put in a solid 16 point showing going 3-4 from deep with the trio of triples falling in the 3rd quarter to put the wine city squad in the lead. Kaplan, whose defense is second to none, is going to be a main cog in Sharon Drucker’s machine and is going to be a key contributor on both sides of the floor.

Kaplan talked about that third quarter run, “It was about time and it’s what I do with the work that I put in, I had to stay ready and once one fell it was like a domino effect. Playing in front of the Rishon fans is special and it’s something that I hadn’t experienced before. I still have big aspirations and I have a lot to prove I can still build off that, Coach has trust in me and told me what he thought I could do over the summer.”

As for Kaplan’s summer, he worked out with San Antonio Spurs star Victory Wembanyama and he spoke about that experience in the video below:

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Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated a game Maccabi Raanana 89-72 but lost Tomer Ginat to a shoulder injury for most probably between 1-2 months. Without Ginat, Dimitrios Itoudis’s squad took a significant hit as the Israeli happens to be a key component to the team both in the Israeli league as well as the Euroleague. In fact, with a continental clash coming up against Dubai in Bosnia this week, Hapoel may not have an Israeli that will take to the court in the game.

Most probably Bar Timor or Guy Palatin will be registered as one of the two have switched off a number of times so far over the course of the eight games, but the latter played very, very sparingly, in fact, 32 seconds in total against Paris this season in Europe while Timor has yet to touch the floor. It should be very interesting to see if Hapoel will not play an Israeli in this game which is something that never occurred for Maccabi Tel Aviv in all of their years in Europe.