Hapoel will try to bounce back from the loss in Piraeus against the team from the Emirates. Maccabi will host in Belgrade and look to surprise the team from the principality. Everything you need to know before tip-off.

A new EuroLeague week is upon the two Tel Aviv clubs. The Reds, sitting in third place, share the league’s best record (6–2) with Žalgiris and Crvena Zvezda but trail them on point differential. The Yellows, on the other hand, share the league’s worst record (2–6) with Baskonia and ASVEL, ranking 18th out of 20. On Thursday night, both teams will take the floor one after the other, hoping to improve their standing in Round 9 of Europe’s top competition.

At 20:00, Hapoel Tel Aviv will look to reclaim first place when they face Dubai (3–5), currently 14th in the standings. Two hours later, at 22:00, Maccabi Tel Aviv will try to pull off an upset against Monaco—just as they did against Real Madrid in Round 5—and snap a three-game losing streak. Hapoel wants to prove it belongs among the elite; Maccabi wants to prove it doesn’t belong among the bottom feeders. Who would’ve thought?

Sarajevo Statements

After a domestic win over Maccabi Ra’anana (89–72), the Red side of Tel Aviv hopes to return to its winning ways in Europe against the struggling Emirati team, which will be missing Moussa, Giaté, and Abramović. Itoudis’ men come off a tough clash with Olympiacos and will now face a less talented opponent and a less hostile crowd in Sarajevo.

Dubai has lost three straight (to ASVEL, Baskonia, and Valencia), allowing 85 points per game and conceding an average of 11.3 three-pointers per contest. Reader Antonio Blakeney is surely following this with interest. In their latest game against Valencia, Dubai led most of the way but couldn’t close it out as the Spaniards took over in crunch time. Boogie Ellis, who joined from Alba Berlin, made a strong debut with 18 points in 27 minutes; Petrusev and Bacon added double figures, but the team’s soft defense let the “Bats” get clean looks on nearly every possession.

Despite the worrying addition of Tomer Ginat to Hapoel’s injury list (alongside Caboclo and Madar), most of their top EuroLeague rotation players were rested in the domestic league. A standard shooting night from the Reds might very well be enough.

Worth Watching

If Dubai’s defense allows Hapoel to attack the paint as easily as their recent opponents have, especially given the Reds’ outside shooting threat, expect a stat-stuffed night from Vasilije Micić. The Serbian guard will want to atone for his late awakening against Olympiacos with a big game here. I wouldn’t bet against him this time.

Weak Spot

Hapoel ranks only 16th in the EuroLeague in total rebounds and is dead last in offensive rebounding. Against Dubai, they’ll need to deal with two strong rebounders—Petrusev (6.8 per game, 4th in the EuroLeague) and Kabengele (6.1, 6th). Last round, Motley and Oturu faced the dominant Olympiacos duo of Milutinov and Vezenkov (1st and 2nd in rebounds), and it ended with a loss from inside the paint. Déjà vu?

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A Royal Visit in Belgrade

The yellow-and-blue, who recently scraped by Maccabi Ramat Gan (84–81) after a fourth-quarter comeback featuring a rare defensive effort, desperately need a EuroLeague win to climb out of the cellar. Unlike the Ramat Gan matchup, it would be a monumental surprise if they managed it against the team from the tiny principality, which is coming off back-to-back blowout wins over Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, scoring 92 points in both.

It’s hard to see Maccabi—boasting the worst defense in the EuroLeague, giving up over 90 points for seven straight games—pulling themselves out of the mud against Spanoulis’ high-flying squad. Still, they’ve already shocked Real Madrid and Hapoel with impressive offensive performances. Maccabi will once again hope that the Blatt–Sorkin pick-and-roll clicks, and that Lonnie Walker IV and Jeff Dowtin Jr. deliver a hot shooting night—otherwise, the season might slip away before mid-November.

Worth Watching

Monaco and Maccabi are the EuroLeague’s top two teams in assists per game, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 respectively. With that in mind, the matchup between Mike James (6.8 apg) and Tamir Blatt (5.8 apg) could decide the game in Belgrade. Whoever distributes better and turns the ball over less might tilt the balance for their side. The difference? Monaco can rest James and turn to Okobo, while Maccabi has no true backup for Blatt (no offense to reader Jimmy Clark). Blatt has shined against elite teams—9 assists vs. Real, 7 vs. Hapoel—so Maccabi’s upset hopes rest squarely in his hands.

Weak Spot

If there’s already a gap between the two starting lineups, it becomes a chasm once the benches enter. Last round, both teams scored 92 points, but Monaco’s bench contributed 41 of them, while Maccabi’s added only 24 (counting Sorkin as a starter instead of Santos, who played 10 minutes but opened in the first five). Monaco’s second unit of Okobo, Nedović, Hayes and Blossomgame offers far more firepower than Maccabi’s group of Will Rayman, Santos, Leaf Jr., Dowtin Jr., and Clark III. Oded Katash will have to stay alert as this game could slip away at any point.

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Beyond Israel

Outside of the Israeli teams’ games, Round 9 of the EuroLeague features a clash between the league’s best offense, Valencia (92.4 ppg), and the best defense, Žalgiris (allowing just 76.1 ppg), as the Lithuanians aim to stay on top (Friday, 20:00). Later that night comes the basketball *El Clásico*—Real Madrid vs. Barcelona (Friday, 21:30). Judging by both teams’ form so far, it looks more like a prestigious mid-table battle than a championship preview.