1) The two Israeli teams that needed to win in European competition did just that as both Hapoel Holon and Maccabi Ramat Gan extended their Basketball Champions League seasons to a pivotal Play In game 3 with the winners punching their ticket to the Round of 16 Group Stage.

The Purples evened up their best-of-3 series against Petkimspor thanks to a tremendous fourth quarter comeback as Dakarai Tucker starred for Guy Goodes’s squad to force a game three which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. There is no question that Holon has not had an easy season after two of their stars in Marcus Bingham and Niv Misgav moved to Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Gilboa Galil respectively. Their departure caused some internal chaos as new players needed to be signed and somewhat of a preseason needed to held in order to get not only the new players up to speed but also to find a way for the entire squad to be able to play together.

This process is going to take plenty of time, but it’s also got to take place as quickly as possible or else Goodes will be just competing in the Israeli League and State Cup and he knows that. With a tightened up rotation, Holon was able to mount the comeback and chalk up the win that will give them a chance to get into the next group stage.

One thing that has been learned is that both teams are fairly even and that Petkimspor is at a disadvantage by not playing their home games at home in Turkey and instead are playing in Baku. Holon should be able to get past this foe but on the other hand they can’t put themselves in a positon where they will need to dig out of yet another big hole.

2) I met Chen Schneiderman, the chairman of Maccabi Ramat Gan at the airport on Monday just prior to his departure to Opava, Czechia where his club would be playing Falco from Szombathely in their BCL Play In game two. We spoke about a number of Israeli basketball topics, but just as he was about to check in, I said, Shmulik Brenner is a great coach and with his methodology, he’ll find a way to get the series to game 3. Schneiderman turned to me and said, Brenner is the best Israeli basketball coach in the country and he couldn’t have been more correct.

Brenner’s game plan worked to a science as Ramat Gan was able to get an early lead and stay in full control for the majority of the game to send the series to a decisive game three back in Hungary next week.

Having sat in numerous Brenner press conferences over the past two years it’s crystal clear that he always has a game plan set for each and every contest that his team is playing and with that his players have specific roles as well. It may be that in one game, Drew Crawford is needed to score and another he is needed to defend. In fact, that may be for just one half as it seemed to be the case against Falco.

Brenner has always shown the ability to really come into a game with clear ideas and that was very pronounced in this one. Next week will see his squad try and punch their ticket to the Round of 16 Group Stage and no one at this point should doubt Maccabi Ramat Gan’s ability to do just that.

3) Hapoel Tel Aviv fell convincingly to Hapoel Jerusalem this past Saturday night and then blew an 8-point lead to Buducnost with a minute remaining in a contest they could ill afford to lose. Something is amiss with the Reds who have not been able to show some sort of consistency the entire season to date.

There’s no question that Dimitrios Itoudis is an excellent coach, but he did come into the team after the season had started and he’s had personnel issues with injuries here and injuries there which has not allowed him to really see the team he would want to play since he arrived a number of months ago. Patrick Beverley recently returned to action after having been in the United States, Marcus Bingham is out of action, Ish Wainright usually just plays in EuroCup action as the list goes on and on.

Turnovers, rebounding issues, the small details and more are hurting Hapoel Tel Aviv and Itoudis is well aware of that. The Greek tactician is going to have to figure out how best to use his roster in order to win in both the domestic league as well as in continental action where there are different rules concerning how many import players can be dressed.

Some coaches have mastered this aspect of working in Israel while others have a more difficult time. But as they say, it’s part of the job.

There are a combination of factors that point to Hapoel Tel Aviv’s frustrations which also aren’t just limited to those on the court itself.

Moving to Yad Eliyahu which set off a segment of the fanbase who are boycotting the larger arena, issues on the Samakov flight with some of the supporters, uncertainty where and when they will play their State Cup game against Maccabi Ramat Gan and on and on and on.

As they say, there’s never a dull moment.

4) Hapoel Jerusalem came up short in their EuroCup game against Ljubljana in a game that saw a large number of fans travel to Bulagria including The Sports Rabbi’s own Elchanan HaCohen. Of course, they would have loved to have seen a win, but it was not meant to be as they came up short in a game that they really needed to cement their spot in the standings.

However, now at 9-6, the loss did the exact opposite as the Slovenian team leapfrogged Jerusalem as they dropped down to 3rd place and have the same record as 4th place Turk Telekom. Breathing down their neck though are Cluj, Bourg and Venice all with 8-7 records which means another loss may see the Reds tumble even further down the standings.

Head Coach Yonatan Alon spoke about not having enough depth, but this is a story that has been discussed for months on end at this point and truth be told he had 9 players at his disposal with two of them playing 10 minutes and under.

It’s true that his roster is not where it needs to be and that management did make some moves but not enough that Alon’s squad would be in the best positon they could be at this point of the season. There are just three games left in the regular season and Jerusalem has to be very, very careful going forward that all of their hard work does not go for not.