A big night of European basketball is slated for Wednesday as three Israeli teams will be playing continental ball with Hapoel Holon, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem all in action. The trio of clubs will look to follow in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s footsteps after the yellow-and-blue won their clash against Baskonia with Holon having the most critical game of them all which could have a huge impact on the next stage of their season as a whole.

Amit Sherf’s purples enter their matchup with Bursaspor at 21:00 Israel time needing a win to secure at least a spot in the Play In Round of the Basketball Champions League. At 3-2 and in second place behind Bonn which is also sporting a 3-2 record, Holon is ahead of both Rio Breogan and their Turkish opponents who are both at 2-3.

A win and they will enter the Play In for the Round of 16 which will consist of a best of 3 series against Oostende or perhaps even a bye into the second group stage itself should Breogan beat Bonn. A minimal loss and a date with Karsiyaka will be on tap while a significant defeat by 20+ points could eliminate Holon if Rio Breogan defeats Bonn by a large margin.

“We are going into the last game of the group stage where everything is wide open,” Sherf said. “We have to come in with one goal and that is to win the game, without looking at the second game and going into all of the calculations. Bursaspor is an unpredictable team, high level offensive abilities. Our goal is first of all is to control the pace and not let them run like we let them in the first half of the last game we played against them. The game will be decided by our defense.”

Veteran Drew Crawford also commented on the game, “We are looking forward to our game which is an important one because if we win we have a chance to finish in first place. We have good team spirit going into the game and we are preparing the right way in practice. Bursaspor is a very talented team with many players who have the ability to dominate the game. We need to be focused, defend and play together in attack to achieve a big victory.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv will not only be hosting Venezia at Stark Arena in Belgrade at 19:30 Wednesday, but the Reds will also be welcoming 160 fans who have been effected by the Hamas massacre and ongoing war. Danny Franco’s team are 8-2 good for second place in their EuroCup group while the Italians enter the game with a 4-7 record.

“We are facing another significant challenge,” Franco began. “This time we will be playing in a “home” arena that we haven’t played in yet. The taste of the atmosphere in our last game at the Drive-In, and especially the moving ceremony prior to the game Israeli league game against Hapoel Eilat only strengthened the thought of what type of loss it is not be able to play at our real home. The game will be our fourth game in the last eight days and that has consequences, but I believe in the team and as in every game we will leave the difficulties aside and battle as we always do.”

“We will have important guests at the game, which is an exciting and incredible initiative by the owner and management and the energy that we will lack from being at the Drive-In will allow us to fight in order to achieve another victory. My hope is that soon the day will come and we can return to the real home in Tel Aviv that we miss so much.”

Big man Idan Zalmanson added, “We are in a good shape despite the amount of games that we have been playing and the fact that we are playing our home games far away from our fans. As in every contest, I believe that what we have achieved so far as a team both on and off of the court is significant but that will not guarantee us victory. We will all have to be focused in order to continue the winning streak against an experienced opponent with good players.”

Finally, Hapoel Jerusalem is playing Benfica at 19:00 at Pionir Arena in Belgrade as they close out their regular season group stage in first place as they will advance directly the Round of 16 group stage where 3 other teams will be waiting, one of which will be Tenerife while the other two will come from the Play In tournament.

The Capital City Reds will look to win the game and finish on a high note as head coach Aleksandar Dzikic said in his pregame quote that the game does mean a lot to them even though that may not be the case on paper. All of the wrong things happen when one takes that type of approach and that they will come and play the best that they can play.