The bad news from last night’s win over Olimpia Milano is that despite a clear advantage in depth, quality, home court and freshness, Hapoel Tel Aviv had to grind it out and win by the skin of their teeth. The good news is that after five straight losses, with the threat of eighth place hanging over their heads, the Reds finally rediscovered their bite.

On paper, this was supposed to be something of a trap game, especially given their current form. On the court, they met an Olimpia Milano squad that was thin, depleted and tired. Just four days earlier, they had battled (successfully) for the Italian Cup and now arrived in Tel Aviv without Lorenzo Brown and Devin Booker, whose futures with the team remain unclear and without three more rotation players released for the international break (Tonut, Mannion and Flaccadori). Dimitris Itoudis’ team came into the first of three games at Yad Eliyahu, opening a week as critical as it gets for their future in Europe’s premier competition, a game they simply could not afford to lose. And lo and behold, they didn’t.

At the start of the game, I rubbed my eyes. Finally, we saw Hapoel playing fast, punishing the Italians for every turnover or rushed three-pointer. Considering the number of ball-handlers, passers and dunkers on this roster, it’s strange we don’t see this style tearing EuroLeague defenses apart every week. The pick-and-roll barely troubled them and time and again the Italians found themselves at the end of the shot clock without a good look at the rim. The one putting on a transition dunk show wasn’t Josh Nebo, but Dan Oturu and I’ll expand shortly on the upgrade he’s experienced thanks to Elijah Bryant’s presence on the floor.

The player who benefited most from the stylistic shift in the first half was Collin Malcolm. Over the past three seasons, the American forward played at the blistering pace of Telekom Baskets Bonn and Paris (under Tuomas Iisalo), so coast-to-coast basketball is nothing new to him. For a change, Malcolm was involved offensively, scoring in double figures, grabbing two steals, and dishing out three assists, not to mention the crazy basket he definitely didn’t mean to make. But when it’s your night, it’s your night.

Milano, for their part, showed character. They erased a 15-point deficit and pulled level deep into the third quarter. It was Zach LeDay, who seems to have his own peculiar release from every range. It was Leandro Bolmaro, the favorite with his drives and tough defense. It was Quinn Ellis, who handed out 10 assists to just one turnover and Josh Nebo, who went 7/7 around the rim. On the other side stood Hapoel’s stars, orchestrated by the mesmerizing Elijah Bryant.

What makes Bryant the undisputed star of this team? I’d argue the first and clearest reason is the Reds’ winless record without him (0-4). Another reason, beyond his individual skill set, versatility and unusual physical profile is what his presence does for those around him. When Vasilije Micic arrived at the start of the season, the expectation wasn’t just that he would dazzle with the ball himself, but that he would elevate his teammates.

While the Serbian guard has so far struggled to produce consistency even for himself, Bryant has taken on that role. The main beneficiary is his former Anadolu Efes teammate, Dan Oturu. The eye test didn’t lie: their chemistry was on full display, including four Bryant assists that turned into Oturu dunks. In three of the four games Bryant missed, Oturu failed to score more than 10 points; against Zalgiris he had 22 and tonight 16. It’s safe to say Itoudis isn’t the only one thrilled about the return of his former Hapoel Eilat star and just in time.

In the fourth quarter, we once again saw too many possessions that reminded us isolation basketball hasn’t gone anywhere. Once again Micic dribbled in place until the ball slipped away. Once again Jones launched a standstill three. Once again Blakeney did Blakeney things. But every time Milano began to chip away at the red lead and threaten to awaken the ghosts of Belgrade and Valencia, Bryant was there calmly making the right play and preventing the advantage from slipping. Late in the evening, as the tired Italians missed shot after shot, Bryant nailed a step-back from beyond the arc and Blakeney finished a fast-break dunk to seal the first win of the “Kessler Edwards era” at Hapoel Tel Aviv (50 seconds, for those who were wondering).

The “Kessler Edwards era” is an anomaly, a strange and confusing point in the club’s timeline, as it finds itself competing for a championship while simultaneously battling relegation within the same table. At the moment, it seems that most of the effort (and money) is being invested simply to avoid going down.

It wasn’t smooth and Hapoel didn’t dazzle, but they walk away with the first of three wins in the “survival battle” they dragged themselves into. A sober perspective is in order: the red fans who still celebrate when their team wins deserve to open the weekend with a half-full glass. After all, it was a Thursday night and Hapoel Tel Aviv winning a EuroLeague game in front of a red crowd at Yad Eliyahu, led by their three superstars combining for 59 points.

If you were to ask the average Hapoel fan of April 2025, the one who lifted the EuroCup trophy in the Canary Islands how he imagined, in his wildest dreams, his team would look the following season, he would probably describe something very much like this.