5.6 seconds. That’s how long, in total, there were players on the court in Sarajevo whose mother tongue is Hebrew or Emirati Arabic. Without injured captain Tomer Ginat, Guy Palatin and Bar Timor should have gotten some playing time in Hapoel Tel Aviv’s 109–97 victory over Dubai’s team of mercenaries. Instead, both entered for just a few seconds late in the third quarter before returning to the bench to watch the foreigners bring “home” a seventh win in nine EuroLeague games back to Tel Aviv.

I don’t know why Itoudis handled them that way — perhaps because he didn’t want to go down in history as the coach responsible for the first EuroLeague game ever played without a single local player on either side. Even if the Greek hadn’t been determined to give them those brief, almost insulting moments on the floor, it’s doubtful anyone in the empty Sarajevo stands would have noticed the scandal.

Dubai’s basketball team still lacks a few essentials to justify the long-term EuroLeague contract it bought itself. First among them: real fans. I’ve seen youth games in the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council that drew more attention in the stands. The second thing Dubai lacks is an organized defense. The third, well, an organized offense. The fourth would be a quality medical staff. The fifth, sixth and seventh are Kabengele, Musa and Abramović.

Hapoel Tel Aviv could easily have won by more than 12 points; it simply wasn’t focused for most of the game and it’s hard to blame it, given the sleepy atmosphere in Sarajevo. The lack of intensity was visible even through the TV broadcast: hearing the coaches loud and clear during the timeouts and the sea of bright orange empty seats above both benches. In the first half, which ended 48-47 for the hosts, both teams got easy looks and rarely missed. The home side came out strong behind Filip Petrusev and Dwayne Bacon, who exploited the Reds’ lackluster defense. Hapoel’s players gave their opponents room to shoot and drive, and they didn’t hesitate hitting 14 of 25 from the field and adding 17 points from the line.

The fact, that someone like Bacon got so many shots (13 each half, 11-for-26 overall) and 14 free-throw attempts made me wonder whether Guy Palatin couldn’t have gotten a few minutes instead of one of Hapoel’s three regular starting guards (yes, Chris Jones, I mean you). The lack of a true defensive stopper in Itoudis’s starting five was glaring (even Malcolm played only five minutes in the first half). On offense, things looked better: Hapoel took advantage of Kabengele’s absence, dominated the offensive glass and fed Motley in the first quarter and Odiase in the second for easy points in the paint. And AB, Automatic Bucket also known as Antonio Blakeney arrived safely in Sarajevo with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first half and keeping Hapoel close whenever it lost focus and let the other side pull ahead.

When the teams came back from halftime, the Elijah Bryant and Vasilije Micić show began. Hapoel opened the half with Malcolm, Wainright and Oturu, who forced Bacon and co. into misses and turnovers, while Bryant and Micić attacked, passed and shot at will. Itoudis handed the keys to the Serbian and the American and they rewarded him with 24 combined points in that quarter (44 for the game) and turned a 1-point deficit into a 17-point lead. Dubai’s defensive fear of the two guards made its defense collapse and expand like an accordion on Germany’s VE Day. Hapoel took advantage of the chaos, entered its zone and scored at a pace of 130 points per game. The third quarter was the only one Hapoel outscored its rival but that was all it needed. In one focused stretch, Itoudis’s men built a cushion that Dubai could no longer threaten.

In the fourth, the Reds again showed signs of indifference perhaps boredom but every time Dubai cut the lead, there was a Hapoel basket to settle things down. The hosts came within five points after Bacon’s 35th (and inefficient) point, but then Micić returned to the floor to finish the job. On two straight possessions he sliced through Dubai’s defense as if it were fresh baklava, first finding Oturu for a layup, then finishing himself off the glass to seal the game. He ended with 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a +21 plus-minus in 31 minutes, proof of how well Itoudis used the most expensive player in the EuroLeague.

So what does Hapoel Tel Aviv take from Sarajevo before a double week against Baskonia and Fenerbahçe? In the “maintenance” column: once again, in its nonchalant way, Hapoel produced an offensive showcase, setting a new season-high of 109 points on blistering percentages, 61% on twos and 47% from deep. This team keeps proving that when it’s locked in, it might just be the most lethal weapon in Europe. The Reds can also take heart from a strong rebounding night (40 total, 13 offensive), though given Dubai’s missing starting center, that achievement comes with a small asterisk.

Looking ahead to next Thursday’s game against the Turkish champion, the new Israeli EuroLeague representative will need a completely different defensive effort to win on neutral ground in Munich. Late rotations and soft fouls sent Dubai to the free-throw line no fewer than 40 times, from which it scored 32 points. In the first eight rounds, Hapoel forced over 12 turnovers per game and averaged nearly six steals. Last night, Dubai turned it over just six times and only once as a direct steal. Those numbers shout lack of focus and defensive softness, allowing a EuroLeague bottom-dweller to score 97 points on them.

If there’s one thing the Reds lacked (except for that third quarter), it’s commitment and defensive focus. Those are the qualities they’ll need against Europe’s powerhouses, ironically, the same qualities embodied by the two Israeli players who traveled all the way to Sarajevo just to play 5.6 seconds. What a waste.