Hapoel Jerusalem will come into the Israel Basketball Finals series as an underdog against Maccabi Tel Aviv in what will no doubt be a terrific best-of-3 tilt between the two squads. While the capital city reds won’t be the favorites, they certainly will be coming into Yad Eliyahu for game one with a chip on their shoulders and with something to prove.

After disposing of Hapoel Tel Aviv in three games in the semifinals, Head Coach Yonatan Alon learnt something about his squad; that they are resilient, talented and also very adaptable to the situation that they may be in.

Jerusalem dropped the first game against Hapoel Tel Aviv in a game that they in fact should have won but ended coming up short by a trio of points. Their superstar Jared Harper was stymied as the league and EuroCup MVP had a brutal game from the field while fouls that were normally called were not as he drew only three which was well below his average.

However, what Alon did learn was that one of his newest recruits, Roi Huber who joined the club from Maccabi Ramat Gan just before the transaction deadline put in an admirable performance with 5 points, 3 assists and a pair of rebounds in 10 minutes. With that piece of knowledge now in his back pocket, Alon understood that Huber, who he had wanted for quite some time and was a player he was very familiar with when both were with Hapoel Galil Elyon, was going to be a key to wining this series.

Game two saw Alon handing the keys to Huber for 18 minutes which resulted in another game of 5 points along with 5 assists as the 28-year old stated to settle into the role and help Jerusalem take a 98-87 win at home. However, the final game of the series was the piece de resistance for Huber.

The Kadima native managed the matchup to perfection in the third contest as Huber checked in with 13 huge points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds in 23 magnificent minutes on the Yad Eliyahu court which included a classic floater in the lane to give Jerusalem an 83-81 lead with 28 seconds left in regulation time.

Huber was the Uber that took Alon’s team on his back and helped find a way for Jerusalem to drive away with the win.

“I brought Roi Huber to Galil too,” Alon said following the series. “I love him, he made huge plays and I’m happy for him, he’s really an excellent player and rarely makes mistakes. That’s what makes him unique and I’m thrilled he had a great game.”

“In this series against Hapoel Tel Aviv, I wanted to play a lot of minutes with two ball carriers, two decision makers. It was the right thing to put Huber next to Harper. He took responsibility which was fantastic. This was a dramatic and significant victory, but now the focus is on the final. I don’t feel like I won the cup or took the championship. We’re on our way to the championship, we played against an outstanding opponent and I have a lot of respect for Hapoel Tel Aviv. We may not have played our best but we showed that we have a special character,” Alon added.

After completing his 9th season in the country’s top league, Huber made his breakout back in 2021/22 when he was in his second season with Hapoel Eilat. For the first time in his career Huber scored in double digits with 10.6 points per game and then signed with Galil Elyon where he as given even more responsibility and scored 13.5 points to go along with 7.5 helpers in 29 minutes per game during the 2023/24 campaign.

From there it was back down south to Ramat Gan where he checked in with 11.5 points in 24 mites per game in the Israel league while also playing in the Basketball Champions League in what was a banner year which was before Huber even knew that he’s be heading to Jerusalem for the final stages of the season.

Yovel Zoosman, who was also a key contributor in game three gave his thoughts about Huber’s play, “He’s just an amazing player and one who makes the others around him better. He could have already bee playing at the highest of levels beforehand. With Galil Elyon, he made everyone better. I’m biased because I’ve known him since he was a youngster and he’s an asset to any team. I’m glad he’s here with us, it’s helped us a lot. I hope he continues this way, I know he can. I tell him to take responsibility, he’s a player for big moments. I hope he continues like this. I always believe, we’ll come with all our might to do our best, we’ll try to focus on ourselves with small tweaks and adjustments where necessary.”

Maccabi will need to be very careful with Huber who can without doubt manage the game extremely well and put Jerusalem into a place where they can get past the yellow-and-blue.

Harper himself said following Jerusalem’s series win over Hapoel Tel Aviv that Huber was the real MVP and was the one who woke the entire team up to mount what was one the the great Israeli league comebacks.

Of course, Alon won’t want to have to find a way to dig out of a 16-point hole against a team like Maccabi Tel Aviv as Oded Katash’s squad has plenty of depth and is also well rested going into the finals after a very long and challenging season that also included 34 Euroleague games.

It won’t be an easy task for Jerusalem to top Maccabi but with their fans behind them and a squad that believes that they can do the unthinkable, the improbable may just happen.