Hapoel Tel Aviv headed to Montenegro earlier in the week for their upcoming EuroCup game against Boducnost on Wednesday at 20:00 Israel time as the Reds will look to improve on their 9-5 record which places them in third just behind Gran Canaria who feature a 10-4 record. The hosts enter the game with a 6-8 record as they sit in 7th place and will no doubt look to move into the top 6 in order to put them in the best position to get into the playoffs.

This gameday will be dedicated to ONE TEAM which aims to reduce the gaps in society through basketball. Hapoel Tel Aviv is proud to take part in this important and valuable social project with the “Hapoel Shvim Tel Aviv” team which is a combined basketball team of Hapoel Tel Aviv fans and those with physical challenges.

Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis looked ahead to his team’s latest challenge, “We will face a team that is currently leading the Adriatic League alongside Partizan Belgrade and it is no coincidence – this is a high-quality, well-organized team, with a coaching staff of the highest level. Bodočnost has at least two players in each position who can perform at the same level without the team dropping a level.”

“Their guards are particularly creative and they get excellent support from their forwards and their big men. This is a team that has everything. We are coming off a disappointing performance against Jerusalem and we are determined to get back on track immediately. We have worked hard in training and put in a lot of effort to ensure that we don’t have games like this again.”

Marcus Foster added, “As we approach the end of the regular season in the EuroCup, it is very important that we continue to improve and that we are at our best against a strong team that is fighting for a place in the playoffs. We must recover immediately after the loss to Hapoel Jerusalem.”

Maccabi Ramat Gan will be off to Opava in the Czech Republic for their BCL Play In game two on Wednesday at 20:30 Israel time where they will host Falco after having fallen 88-81 to a tough Hungarian team that played terrific team basketball to overwhelm Shmulik Brenner’s team. One of the players who should be a key contributor and will be needed on both ends of the floor is Drew Crawford who was superb in the club’s league win over Bnei Herzliya as the sharp shooter dropped a trio of triples in the first quarter and finished the game off with 14 points.

In game one of the BCL Play In series, Crawford went scoreless in 20 minutes of action in a contest that he only took a total of two, yes two shots. Obviously his role in that game was one that was defensive oriented but he will no doubt have to share some of the scoring in order to help his team win and get to a third game for a chance to play in the Round of 16 Group Stage.
Adam Ariel, who was out injured with a neck issue for the Herzliya game may not be able to take part in game two and with that Crawford’s role will be even more pronounced. But it won’t just be Crawford who celebrated the Brit Milah of his son on Sunday but absolutely everyone Brenner explained.

“We need everyone. Drew is not your usual player and he will do what is needed of him. We want to see him play aggressive basketball and he can score as well from deep but can also cut to the basket. But i’s not just him though, we need everyone. Each player may have a specific role for a specific game that was the case for Crawford in game one. Amin is another player who had a certain role in the Herlziya game for the first half but everyone is important to this team. Drew is important and Adam is important, everyone is important for us as we need them all in order to win in Europe.”

Benayhu Srur also spoke about what a player like Crawford brings to the table, “We all know who he is and what he can do. In any game he can do what he did In this one. We know how important he will be for us in the BCL game coming up.”

Crawford himself looked ahead to the club’s big contest, “This game is critical for us to continue our European season. We are a great team and we know what we are capable of. I am sure that if we play the right way, we will notch a big win. The Hungarians play great as a team and we’ll have to be careful with each possession in order to take home the victory. We have to control the ball, play together and be strong on defense to make it tough for them to score.”