Hapoel Jerusalem is certainly happy with their 89-74 win over Hamburg Towers in EuroCup play as they have now notched two victories in a row in Europe with an Israeli league win sandwiched in between. The Reds stayed in front from the get go of the contest as every regular rotation player contributed in one way or another ahead of a domestic clash against fellow EuroCup side Hapoel Tel Aviv.

It’s clear that Yonatan Alon’s team is starting to come together and as each game goes by the players are getting more and more used to one another. Wins at this time of the season are always important because it’s a lot easier to work on things and improve when you’re picking up W’s rather than the other way around.

Austin Wiley arrived in the capital city with plenty of fanfare after having been a wanted man by numerous teams for both his scoring, rebounding and interior defense. During the preseason there were games that he was an absolute monster in the paint but when Jerusalem faced Valencia in their first EuroCup game the entire team seemed off falling 80-64 with Wiley scoring 8 points and grabbing 11 boards.

However, in a 94-74 win over Lietkabelis Wiley was nowhere to be found with 2 points on free throws and took 0 shots from the field to go along with a measly lone rebound to his name but against Hamburg the Auburn product scored 10 points going 4/12 while taking 17 boards in the victory.

What this all proves is that Wiley along with everyone else on Jerusalem is that they all need time and it’s early, very early in the season, but collecting wins no matter what and when is of the utmost importance as the club still works itself out into shape.

“I don’t think I played my best today offensively,” Wiley said following the game. “But when the offense isn’t going, I tried to help the team as much as I can, so grabbing rebounds and playing defense was important. We are getting there and it’s still a work in progress and it’s our 4th game officially. We are going to keep working and keep getting better.”

Wiley said it plain and simple after the win over Hamburg and said the same after disposing of Nes Ziona in the Israeli league opener. Everything takes time.

One thing that looks like it won’t change anytime soon is that Israeli clubs European home games will be played abroad. It’s going to be quite some time until the war ends and that peace will encompass the Holy Land allowing for the return of continental clashes on home soil.

With almost no fans in the stands in Hamburg due to local security precautions while the team’s “home games” in Bulgaria see very few supporters in the stands, Wiley will be very content to see the Reds faithful at the Arena this coming Sunday when they welcome Hapoel Tel Aviv.

“It was very different here without fans and we had to create our own energy and just imagine the fans are there. But we have a big game against Hapoel Tel Aviv and we expect that everyone will come out and support us.”

Noam Dovrat also spoke about how much the team has missed having the support, “We will need the fans and we miss them as we will be playing our first home game at the Arena. To play in an empty arena as we did here in Hamburg is not great to say the least and we always think about what would be if we had fans here. On Sunday the fans will push us forward.”

Jerusalem is starting to take shape nicely and they will look even better with Khadeen Carrington back in the squad and the same is also true of Hapoel Tel Aviv who have now won 2 games in a row in the EuroCup as well.

While they may have a flashier squad but regardless of what their payroll is, wins are always good to have in their pocket especially ahead of a clash with one of your rivals in Hapoel Jerusalem. Greek bench boss Stefanos Dedas tightened up his rotation a bit in their win over Besiktas and kept a number of players on the bench instead of forcing minutes out of players that he may not need.

With that, Patrick Beverley, Johnathan Motley and Ish Wainwright, the Big 3 so to speak had good games while Marcus Foster was excellent as well as the Israeli duo of Tomer Ginat and Bar Timor. However, on the flipside, guard Joe Ragland played only 7 minutes, Guy Palatin and Oz Blayzer only saw the court from the bench while Ben Bentil wasn’t even dressed.

But that’s how it is with a roster of superstars and a load of former NBA players which Dedas will need to learn how to manage both in Europe and at home. Good chance those who didn’t play will get their chance against Jerusalem both due to the player rules but also to give some guys time on the court to make sure that when their number is called they will be able to contribute down the road when the stakes are higher.

However, for Dedas the key will be how can he make everyone happy and as they say, it’s not his job to make them happy but to win games, in reality though he really needs to find some sort of happy medium because with the amount of talent oozing out of the dressing room, this will be his biggest challenge.

For now, Sunday night’s clash will be a big early season matchup both in terms of style and in terms of star power as both squads know full well that this will be a litmus test for either side and one that should provide some chills and thrills to really get the Israeli league season off and running.