1) Maccabi Tel Aviv picked up the win against Nes Ziona but it wasn’t easy. After cruising to a 17 point, 42-25 halftime lead Brad Greenberg’s squad came back big time and even took the lead in the final frame, but the Yellow & Blue were able to compose themselves and take the win. One of the players who notched his career high in points was Dragan Bender who was instrumental in the victory. The big question is can he be dominant in the Euroleague as well, “He can,” said a relieved Ioannis Sfairopoulos following the game. “He has the abilities and it’s not easy to come from the NBA and play here. All of a sudden he has 2-3 players defending him and it takes time to make the proper adjustments.” Bender’s teammate Ante Zizic also spoke about the collaboration with his fellow Croatian, Dragan is a very talented player, we are both tall, and we help one another on the defensive end. Today we opened the game aggressively, closing the paint really well.”

2) Jerusalem travelled down to Eilat and not only came back with a win but also with a healthy J’Covan Brown who scored 14 points in 15 minutes after recovering from an injury. The captain is back and that’s excellent news for Jerusalem as they continued on their winning ways who were able to have 8 players on the floor for at least 15 minutes a piece. If you recall just before the international break Jerusalem won 3 games in 7 days with a very, very, very short roster. So to have Brown back, the Reds are in better shape than they were but with a busy month ahead including two games in Bosnia is Champions League action, Jerusalem still needs to widen the rotation a bit and hopefully Edvinas Seskus who will probably make his debut in Balkan League action on Wednesday night will be that missing ingredient. “Feels great to be out there with my guys,” said Brown. “I’m happy to be back and be able to be a leader during the game and put a spark in the team in the first half. I’m taking it one step at a time. It’s a process and I’ll enjoy it. We had our mistakes but we finally have the whole team back and we will enjoy this win and take the long bus ride home.” Coach Oded Katash was also content about Brown’s return, “We’re happy to have J’Covan back and we’re even happier that we were able to get through the game and take the win against a very tough Eilat team”

3) Hapoel Holon were also a bunch of happy campers after beating Maccabi Tel Aviv as Maxime De Zeeuw is fitting in very nicely. However, over at Maccabi Ante Zizic is not. The Croatian center looks to be having issues after suffering an injury a few weeks ago against Milan in Euroleague. I had asked Sfairopoulos about his fitness after Zizic had only played 10 minutes in the win over Red Star and he said that Othello Hunter was playing well and that he just ran with him. But after a subpar performance against Holon the coach was asked if Zizic’s issues were related to the style of play or just the center not playing up to expectations, “Both. The style of small ball of the opponent if fit our defensive system to play Hunter, and second maybe he is not right now at his best game rhythm.”

4) strong>Nahariya picked up their first win of the season by downing Maccabi Haifa in a tight overtime contest. Things haven’t been easy on Danny Franco and his squad but one constant has been the stellar play of Kalin Lucas. The one-time Jerusalem guard put up tremendous numbers in the G-League showing what Detroit, Michigan native can really do. This season so far, Lucas is averaging over 21 points to go along with 4 boards and 4 assists per game. Against the Greens he out up another incredible performance with 31 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists with a 40 efficiency rating while leading the team to the big overtime win. Lucas however, wanted to pass the credit along to his teammates, “Big win for us collectively everyone chipped in and played their role which was needed. I knew I needed to be aggressive on both ends of the floor and continue to lead my guys. They made my job easy and I’m glad we were able to get the W.”

5) Are we talking about Caleb Agada again? I can’t believe it, but yes we are. Agada scored 27 points making it look easy, very easy at times as he is just so smooth when he goes to the hoop or when he takes a jumper, or when he launches it from deep. In fact, he is such a cool cat one of the media members called him “The Maradona of Basketball”! Ok, we won’t go there, but boy can Agada take a team on his back and just find one bucket after the next form every impossible angle as well. “I would be happy to coach Caleb as long as possible,” said Beer Sheva coach Rami Hadar. When “Maradona” was asked about his showing, Agada as usual showed how humble a person he is, “I am just focusing on what I need to do in order for us to reach the highest of heights. We have a great staff and I’m with a terrific club that gives us whatever we need. It’s easy to play for this team.”

6) Over at Hapoel Tel Aviv things haven’t been easy for coach Ioannis Kastritis with injury, after injury, after injury. Talib Zanna – out. JP Tokoto – down with a foot injury. Jon Diebler – coming back from and injury. Although they lost to Beer Sheva, they arguably played their best game of the season showing a ton of character, passion and fight. Of course in sports there are no moral victories, but they’ve got to be at least content with the fight that the Reds showed on the court. Add to that the addition of Gabe York who looked superb in his debut scoring 14 points and there is something for the club to build on but they’ll need to continue to retool the roster. One of Hapoel’s big men Jonathan Mor spoke about the free throw issues down the stretch going 3/11 in the final frame which led to the defeat, “We couldn’t hit our shots and each one of us has to stand on the free throw line during practice and hit them. Of course pressure played a part because Hapoel is a big club and there is a big responsibility that you have for the club and its fans.”