In Israel’s previous trip to the EuroBasket Round of 16, a decade ago, Omri Casspi and Gal Mekel shone above all and their most notable supporting actor was Lior Eliyahu, who delivered a strong offensive campaign after his historic championship with Hapoel Jerusalem.

When Yaniv Green was crowned the rebounding king of Europe in 2007 and the national team surprised Serbia and Croatia back-to-back, Yotam Halperin led the squad in minutes and points and everyone fed off the quiet leadership of Meir Tapiro.

In the last quarterfinal appearance, 22 years ago, the key was collective effort. Tal Burstein played the most, Tapiro scored the most and Green teamed up with Ido Kozikaro to form a dynamic pair of supporting stars.

Tomer Steinhauer’s peak performance in 1997, ranking fifth in points and third in rebounds among all tournament participants, has been nearly forgotten, overshadowed by Oded Katash’s scoring title.

Now, in 2025, this national team will be remembered as the team of Deni Avdija, Yam Madar and Roman Sorkin. Maybe the following description does a bit of injustice to its captain, but at The Oscars that will never actually take place, when they announce, “And the winner of the Best Supporting Actor award is…” — Tomer Ginat wouldn’t even need to wait for the envelope to be opened. He’d already know and he’d already be up on stage.

So why is that an unfair description? Because he ranks third among Israelis in both points and efficiency rating, first in rebounds (eighth overall in the entire EuroBasket) and second in assists. Supporting actor? Really?

The thing about Ginat is that it’s not always easy to glorify his play or point to one single moment that won the game. He thrives on cleaning up the scraps (in the best possible sense), on small key plays that make a massive difference, on subtle movements and disruptions that halt negative momentum and turn it into something deadly (again, in the best possible sense!).

There’s not much to take away from the win over Belgium. After the emotional high of beating France, we have to honestly admit that the journey isn’t all that interesting and not really important, either. Only the outcome matters. Sorry for the cliché. Yovel Zoosman started the game poorly and didn’t play at all in the second half. Khadeen Carrington finally hit his first 3-pointer and once it fell through the basket, two more followed and suddenly he looked more confident. Sorkin felt comfortable against a softer matchup (which might repeat itself tomorrow) and Ariel Beit-Halachmi couldn’t afford a single moment without Avdija on the court.

Although the team passed the most basic test of “coming down from the mountaintop” and didn’t stumble against a weak opponent, it’s still unclear how far Israel can go in this tournament. In some ways, the final group stage game against Slovenia may turn out to be more significant than the Round of 16 knockout contest.

It may sound a bit cruel, but in hindsight, the win over France could end up in the memory books as heroic, impressive and meaningless. If the team loses tomorrow against Slovenia, they’ll finish in fourth place, just as they would have without it. Basketball, you very strange thing.

There’s no other way, Avdija and his teammates have reached the minimum goal set for them, but they’ll need to pull out one more rabbit from the hat to make this journey truly special. We definitely won’t complain if they do.