In front of over 11,000 rabid fans, Hapoel Jerusalem finally won their first ever Israel Basketball League title defeating Hapoel Eilat in the second match of a two game total points series 88-68.
After a very close first half in which Eilat took an 8-point lead to the dressing room 44-36, the Reds quality came to the forefront for the final 20 minutes of the basketball season when star Donta Smith took over and ended his evening with 20-points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. The MVP of the Finals, Bracey Wright contributed 20-points in the effort while Tony Gaffney and Lior Eliyahu also finished in double digits.
For Eilat who played without injured Kevin Palmer, Adrian Uter completed a double-double with 17 points and 11 boards and Khalif Wyatt along with Amot Shimchon scored 12-points a piece. Eilat had a miserable night from three-point land going 3/20 and that pretty much all she wrote for Danny Franco and his Jerusalem team who celebratd into the night at Safra Square.
why was the Israel basketball a best of 3 when the semi is a best of 5?
That’s an excellent question. The league has been trying to find a formula for the finals that would make it possible for a smaller team to defeat the larger clubs. but in doing so they have been met with a lot of resistance from the smaller sides and the final was actually a 2 game total points winner take all and not even a best of 3!