The best part of Israel’s 79-73 loss to Finland in World Cup qualifying is that they can now sit back, take out their notebooks and learn a few lessons ahead of next Friday’s Eurobasket clash between the two. There were so many issues that when the blue-and-white look back on what went wrong, they could fill a phonebook as to what they need to do in order to not only down Finland but also make sure that they move on to the knockout stages of the Eurobasket. If they don’t learn a lesson or two from this game then the defeat will have meant nothing.

That has got be the attitude of head coach Guy Goodes who did not have one of his best game’s on the sidelines. Strange lineups, limited minutes for Deni Avdija in what looked like a benching at some points during the game, unclear tactics and above all the poor free throw and 3-point shooting from the players which made for one disappointing game in Finland.

Israel looked overwhelmed and outmatched for the majority of the game but the blue-and-white did make a run in the third quarter to cut the Finland lead down, but after expending so much energy on effort there was just nothing left in the tank for Goodes’s team as the game went down to the final few minutes.

There were spurts of fine play from Roman Sorkin, Nimrod Levi and Yam Madar but it wasn’t nearly enough to make the impact needed to defeat a Finnish team with an NBA star in Lauri Markkanen who sliced and diced the Israel defense all game long to finish with 28 points and 9 boards.

Markannen did as he pleased on the floor as he effortlessly and seamlessly was a part of the Finland team in which he only played one exhibition game with and a couple of World Cup qualifiers earlier in the summer. The Cleveland Cavaliers forward showed exactly what he could do for the team as the team showed him what they could do for him as well.

Over on the Israel bench, Avdija’s performance went the exact opposite way as he finished the game with 8 points in 18:47. Over the course of the first quarter the Washington Wizards forward tried to force himself on the game, dribbling throughout possessions with no endgame in sight, not moving the ball around and just looking like he was trying to play “hero ball” right off the bat.

Avdija looked as if he hardly played at all with the rest of the team and in fact that was kind of the case since Avdija played only two of the five exhibition games with first being played with only a partial squad against Auburn and the second versus a very poor side in Romania. In fact, the question should be asked if the pair of games against Romania helped or hindered Israel’s preparation.

Goodes had said throughout the past month that Avdija had to be a part of the team and that once they could all figure out how to use his quality and skills to influence the game they would be unstoppable.

Unfortunately it was as if Avdija and Goodes put the brakes on themselves as the forward played less than 19 minutes in a game that in reality he should have played 30+ in order to get more time in ahead of the Eurobasket and allow the forward to integrate further into the team.

But that isn’t exactly what occurred. Goodes left Avdija on the bench for way too much of the game and not only didn’t win with the strategy he employed but also didn’t give arguably his best player maximum minutes to play and get used to what his teammates can and can’t do.

Was the national team looking at these two games as truly competitive last chance saloon clashes to get into the World Cup, or were they really just using the game as a preparation matchup?

That question still remains as does the question about why Avdija didn’t play more minutes regardless of what the approach to the games are. Avdija needed to be on the court in crunch time and he was not.

Avdija has to be on the court, Avdija has to lead the national team and Avdija has to be the player that Goodes relied on the most and all three of those things did not happen.

Your best player needs to be unleashed and given the keys the car in order to lead just as Omri Casspi did more than a decade ago. When the first Israeli in the NBA faced Nikola Pekovivc it was a one-on-one with the best player earning bragging rights. The same was true when Casspi met Italy and their two NBA stars in Andrea Bargnani and Marco Bellineli as he always liked to use his edge to find a way to raise the level of his game.

That is true for Avdija as well but he’s got to have a fair shot to actually raise his game. Avdija has led the youth national teams, specifically the Under-20 squad both in 2018 and 2019 when he was named to the starting five while also picking up the MVP in the second year. He has the ability, he’s in the NBA and Goodes needs to find a way to get the utmost out of him as the Eurobasket is right around the corner.

Goodes also kept Avdija and his running mate Yam Madar separated for the majority of minutes and that is also an issue when one has seen what magic the two can make together. All in all a strange game.

There is Sweden on Sunday back at home in World Cup qualifying and Israel will need to use that game to get back onto the winning track and raise the spirits of the players up a few notches, but once again the level of competition isn’t going to be the greatest especially after the Swedes fell to Germany 67-50. Yes, Sweden scored only 50 points and Israel won’t be able to take much out of that game ahead of Finland again next Friday.

The best thing Israel can get out of the game against Sweden is that they get back on track regain confidence and are able to put on a smile before arriving in Prague. However, if they play against Finland in the Czech Republic as they did in Scandinavia, the blue-and-white will be in a lot of trouble.

The exhibition games against Romania hurt Israel more than they helped without a question. While it’s good to win it would have been more beneficial to play higher level competition. The Israel Basketball Association had to be able to bring in a better opponent to really see where the team was in their training and not just give the players a good feeling that they went 5-0 in the pre-competitive games.

Those clashes didn’t give anyone the right indication as to where Israel really is, but this game at Finland did that exact job – nowhere near being really prepared and this was something that they would have been better off knowing over a week ago.

How much can Israel do in the short time remaining you ask? Not much other than continuing to practice and to scheme up a way to get the Eurobasket 2022 campaign underway and started off on the right foot. Goodes needs to begin this tournament well but he will still face plenty of trials and tribulations because a defeat to Finland means game two against Holland becomes a much more must win game with Poland, Serbia and the Czech Republic all coming up in that order.

The players all seem to get along and genuinely like each other, but will those relationships begin to crack if losses start to pile up and the snowball can’t be stopped.

That is ultimately the jackpot winning question.