Everything is back to normal and all roses in Maccabi Tel Aviv land after their Israeli Classico victory over Hapoel Jerusalem 95-84. Well, that’s at least true for the next day or so as the yellow-and-blue can celebrate their win but need to be ready for what’s coming up fast and furious as a date with Zalgiris in Euroleague action is on tap for Thursday night (21:05).

Oded Katash’s crew can be happy with a their performance against the capital city reds, a team that the bench boss mentioned is Euroleague caliber a number of times in his post-game press conference. There were plenty of positives for Maccabi despite not having arguably their best scorer in Lonnie Walker who the club is hoping will be back on the court for the upcoming clash with the Lithuanians.

After Hapoel had jumped out to a 16-3 lead in the middle of the first quarter, from top to bottom the yellow-and-blue put in a terrific showing and rightfully earned the coveted win. The victory keeps Maccabi in the running for home court advantage throughout the playoffs as they sport a record of 12-1, but that’s a ways away.

Katash desperately needed to come away with a positive result especially after a double week sweep in Spain and three Euroleague losses in a row. Maccabi may not have the horsepower to find a way into the postseason in continental play, but they can most certainly vie for the Israeli championship which will come down to them, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem, so the victory was crucial as crucial could be for them over Yonatan Alon and his squad.

But going back to Maccabi, how good did Katash feel that he can put the ball into Iffe Lundberg’s hands as time wound down and knows that the guard will do what needs to be done to close out the game. The Dane is an extension of the bench boss on the floor as he makes the other players around him not only better but they can all sense the calm and confidence that the Lundberg oozes.

Jimmy Clark looks like a plyer who has taken the next step in his European career and played a mature game while big man Marcio Santos is exceeding all expectations with his play. TJ Leaf has come into his own and shows the intelligence that he possesses at both ends of the floor, Will Rayman is the barometer of the team in terms of energy and effort as Jaylen Hoard is still trying to adjust to a bit of a different role that he had last season.

Oshae Brissett was absolutely wonderful with incredible defense which included 4 steals plus a mega-sized dunk, Tamir Blatt went from deep when Maccabi needed the momentum change plus John Dibartolomeo, what can you say about the captain other than he is a hound dog on the defensive end.

Don’t worry, Roman Sorkin, the MVP for the Classico was unstoppable inside and hot his shots from the outside as he continues to grow into a star.

The victory for Maccabi was a complete team win every which way one looks at it. Now they need to bring that to the Zalgiris game which of course won’t be as easy, although one of Tomas Masiulus most important players in Nigel Williams-Goss is out injured. The effort In the Classico may have been fine to beat Hapoel Jerusalem but Zalgiris has already won in Yad Eliyahu this season, roughly two weeks ago against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

On the other side of the court, the loss for Jerusalem wasn’t as critical as they have already fallen in a number of game this season (8-5) and they know full well that the two top spots are already out of reach. Of course they want to win but as Coach Alon said, that you win some and you lose some which is true, but there have been a number of performances that leaves you wondering where the Reds were for the 40 minutes.

Khadeen Carrington was Jerusalem’s best player and it was clear that if his team wanted to win he would have to have a good game which he did. However, Jared Harper’s 3-point shot was coming up short all game long, Justin Smith was nowhere to be found, Cassius Winston was not his usual self which was also true for Yovel Zoosman and Anthony Lamb.

Roi Huber and Roy Paretzky looked way over their heads with Maccabi pressuring and pushing while Nimrod Levi had a disappointing outing. Austin Wiley had a solid double-double but between the big man and Carrington, there was no way that Jerusalem was going to come away with a good result even though they looked like they were going to blow away Maccabi when they were up 16-3.

Something hasn’t been clicking the right way with Jerusalem. There are some games where they are a powerhouse and unbeatable like they were last week at Slask Wroclaw in Poland or against Hapoel Tel Aviv at Yad Eliyuahu and then there are games that they have trouble showing up in as in the loss to Hapoel HaEmek, Bnei Herzliya or Hapoel Beer Sheva.

In order to win Jerusalem has to have the “Open” sign turned on for the entire 40 minutes or else they are going to come up short which also probably points to a mental problem or as Carrington said, the leaders of the team, himself, Harper or Zoosman have to make sure that the Reds put in that 110% effort. Because if they don’t there will be plenty of disappointments along the way.

Effort, hustle and determination are all part of that package and they had to nip that in the bud according to Carrington when they needed to ratchet it up to another level.

The talent is there and no one is going to question that as they are also still trying to upgrade their roster but they can’t afford to be complacent which is what Brissett said about Maccabi, teams can’t be lazy and think that the win is going to be served on the silver platter. If you want that win, you’ve got to go for it and want it.

It was clear that in this installment the yellow-and-blue just wanted it more.

The question is will the Reds learn their lesson and match that desire the next time around?