Nes Ziona is a fun, fun team and they’ve won 10 games in a row to boot with the most recent victim Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion who desperately needed the win! Braian Angola is an offensive monster, Wayne Selden is showing how valuable he is on both ends of the floor as is Jerome Meyinsse who leaves it all out on the floor. And then there’s Patrick Miller. How about Miller making the game winning block to secure a huge win against playoff rival Rishon Le’Zion to help Brad Greenberg’s team clinch a postseason berth. Miller is such an amazing ball of energy it’s scary to see what he can do for Nes Ziona both offensively as he can literally muscle his way through a brick wall and then defensively whether it’s playing the top guy on the opposing team or even making that tremendous block to secure the win. Nes Ziona will be a tough, tough out for whoever gets them in the playoffs.

Beer Sheva is getting very close to punching their ticket to the playoffs but will certainly want to try and get into the 7th spot and not land up in the 8th as then they will have to play Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals. Yes, the southern reds beat the Yellow & Blue the last time they played, but that was also with Caleb Agada and Eric Griffin, both of which have departed the Holy Land due to the security situation. Can Rami Hadar’s team pull it off and leapfrog Nes Ziona? Well, it’s going to be tough. They’ve got a home date against Maccabi Haifa, then a visit from Hapoel Tel Aviv and finally a trip to Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion. Not an easy road ahead of them. Nes Ziona’s got a home game against Bnei Herzliya and a road trip to Hapoel Tel Aviv to end the season; not a simple test either. This week will certainly be a telling one for both of these teams. Amir Bell who has turned up the offense for Beer Sheva spoke about their win at Herzliya, “At this point of the season, every game has such huge implications. Tonight we knew we had to come out with a sense of urgency and play as a team. We were able to execute and put together 40 minutes that was good enough to win.”

Stefanos Dedas is always a good quote and he was in fine form after Maccabi Tel Aviv downed his Hapoel Holon 86-65. Was the Greek bench boss upset about losing? Ah, not so much as a third place finish overall would set them up to play against a depleted Hapoel Jerusalem squad which lost 4 imports who went back to the United States. Dedas would be thrilled to get the Reds, a team that Holon also beat the last two times out. In fact, every team would be content to draw Jerusalem in the quarterfinals and wants to stay away from the 4th spot as to not have to face the 5th place team and then most probably Maccabi in the finals. Back to Holon though. Dedas also spoke about expecting Isaiah Miles to return after leaving Israel due to the security situation and if he didn’t it would be “bad” while also stating that Holon deserves to be in the league final against Maccabi Tel Aviv and that they are better than both Hapoel Eilat and Hapoel Gilboa Galil. I’m sure both those teams will plaster that up on their blackboards. Needless to say the playoffs will be very interesting and Stefanos Dedas is one of those reasons why.

Hapoel Tel Aviv won another game, this time over Nahariya as they moved far, far away from the relegation zone to make that they will play for another season in the top league. The questions that will surround Danny Franco and the Reds are what will the roster look like next season, however, they’ll have plenty of time to figure that out which is good news. Hapoel will have time to properly build its roster, something that they have had problems doing over the course of the past couple of seasons as the squad was a revolving door. If I am the Reds, I take a good look at how I can keep one of the stars of the league Justin Tillman who was tremendous for Hapoel Gilboa Galil a long season ago and has been putting up tremendous numbers for Franco. The other big question will be what will happen with Yam Madar. He most certainly will head to the US to play in the NBA Summer League with the Boston Celtics in early August, the question will be, where will he be playing next season. The G-League, NBA, a European team that will be playing in two competitions or Hapoel Tel Aviv. This is a story worth watching.

Hapoel Haifa may have had a hiccup or two the last month or so, but they are still an excellent team that plays exactly like that, a team. Elad Hasin’s squad downed hapless Hapoel Jerusalem as Keenan Evans once again showed why he will be playing in perhaps the Euroleague next season. Evans is a force on and off of the court, a guard who can do it all at both ends and is also just a great guy off of the parquet. Just as most foreigners to Israel were concerned about the rocket fire into the country, Haifa’s star was no exception but he is certainly one happy camper to be playing once again, “It felt good to be back out there, those breaks are never fun especially this last one. But we are glad to be back playing and starting off this tough week with a win.”