Ulm defeated Wurzburg 85-76 in the second game of the German Basketball League season as Ben Saraf’s team moved to 2-0 on the young campaign.

Throughout the season, Moshe Halickman, who has been covering Ben Saraf since 2021 for the Hebrew side of the Sports Rabbi website will now analyze the Israeli’s performances from a different point of view and from a fun angle in English too! But to find out what his final rating was you’ll need to read all the way until the end of the column.

The Good: Starting 5
After featuring in the starting lineup in his first EuroCup game against Trefl Sopot last week, Saraf once again found himself on the floor for the opening tip for the first time after coming off the bench in the first game of the domestic league’s season. This is without a doubt a sign that in head coach Ty Harrelson’s eyes that Saraf is the starting point guard for Ulm and is now in the starting 5 to stay.

The Bad: Issues with a fast-paced offense
Saraf picked up a pair of early fouls in the opening minutes of the game, the second of wihc was totally unnecessary as he lost a ball and in the heat of the moment immediately committed a foul, which sent him to go to the bench. As a result, Saraf only played for a short period of time throughout the balance of the first half. It’s a lesson that Saraf will learn from, as his second offense came instinctively. It also reminds us that Saraf is human and not a robot, which is important.

The Good: Dishing
Against Trefl Sopot, Saraf dished out a career high 10 assists and this time around he notched 6 helpers while turning the ball over twice. Saraf once again was able to help his teammates out significantly and those in Saraf’s milieu will all agree that assists are what will differentiate him from other players who only think about scoring. In fact, this game he only scored 5 points in this game.

The Bad: Deuces
When Saraf penetrated into the paint at the beginning of the game, his shot was blocked while later on in the matchup he also failed to finish on the inside as he went 0/3 from two.

The Good: Triple
Ssaraf’s first points this time came in the third quarter with a wide open 3-pointer. After going 0/3 from beyond the arc against Sopot, this time Saraf scored from the outside going 1/3 after having knocked down a pair from deep in his opening Bundesliga game with both coming in the first half.

The Bad: Fouling from beyond the arc
Saraf had a mediocre game on the defensive side of the ball, notably in the final frame was his foul that gave the opponent 3 free throws as he ended the night with an overall -2 on the court during his minutes.

The Good: Blocks
Just moments before Saraf committed the foul that gave Wurzburg a trio of free throws he recorded simply a monstrous block which of course reminded everyone of his days with Eliztur Netanya and Kiryat Ata as well as when he played on the Israel youth national teams.

The Bad: Shooting from the charity stripe
Saraf reached the line twice during the game, once in the third quarter and the other during the final seconds of the game. Each time he hit the first shot and missed the second as he went 2/4 good for 50%.

The Good: Court confidence
The first home game can be a bit stressful, but not for Saraf as he looked more than comfortable talking to the referee and speaking to the coach during a timeout and in fact he featured on one of the video ads for ticket sales for this game.

The Bad: Forcing the play
While it happened less so than in the previous game, Saraf still forced the play on occasion, including turning over the ball that allowed Wurzburg to pick up some points in the last minute of the game. In addition, there was an interesting point made by television commentator Erez Edelstein, a former Israel National Team coach, that Saraf was already on the offensive side of the court when Ulm had the ball on their side and had trouble getting the ball across which could have led to an 8-second violation. Ultimately, as a ball handler, it would have been helpful for Saraf to be on the Ulm side to get the ball across half court but luckily Wurzburg committed a foul. To Saraf’s credit, he knew how to make sure that his teammates took center stage in a game that they were better on the floor.

The Good: Crunch time
As mentioned earlier, Saraf didn’t play much in the first half due to the early foul problems, but in the second half he already received a lot of credit and this was especially noticeable in the fourth quarter. After his team had already led by 18, Saraf returned to the court a few minutes into the fourth quarter with a 10-point advantage and even when Wurzburg tied up the score, he remained on the floor and was not substituted out until the end when his team eventually secured the victory. Part of the idea of playing for Ulm is that the club gives youngsters like Saraf and Noa Essengue (4 points) crunch time minutes when the pressure is on as the Israeli ended up playing 21 minutes.

Moshe’s Rating: 6
True, Saraf was not at his peak and this wasn’t a game that created all kinds of hype on social media unlike the two previous contests gave him a rating of 10, but there are games like the one against Wurzburg and to be honest it is perfectly fine. Saraf was still able to contribute to the victory thanks to his passing abilities and IQ and hence the overall score of 6. Saraf’s next game will be this Tuesday (20:00) at home against Joventut Badalona and we really, really, can’t wait!