The Israel Basketball League’s regular season came to an end and postseason play will open up on Monday night with a pair of best of three quarterfinal series while two more will begin on Tuesday as the league will look to crown the 2020/21 champion by mid-June.

Maccabi Tel Aviv who finished in first place overall will host 8th place Hapoel Beer Sheva while Hapoel Eilat who ended the season in 4th will welcome Hapoel Haifa on Monday. Hapoel Jerusalem, will travel up to 3rd place Hapoel Gilboa Galil and Hapoel Holon will be the home team when they tipoff against Nes Ziona on Tuesday.

Hapoel Beer Sheva got by Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion 87-83 as up and coming swingman Amit Suss scored a career high 27 points in the win. After an even first half that ended 46-46, Rami Hadar’s squad were able to sneak ahead over the final twenty minutes as Amir Bell who finished the game with 17 points and 10 assists hit a 3-pointer with the scored tied up at 78 to help the visitors to the victory. Golan Gutt with 24 points and Akil Mitchell who was honored before the game for being Rishon’s only foreigner to remain in Israel due to the security situation added 18 points and 11 rebounds for Guy Goodes’s team in the defeat.

Nes Ziona dunked Hapoel Tel Aviv 113-89 as Brad Greenberg’s club was clicking on all cylinders ahead of the playoffs. Braian Angola, Patrick Miller and Wayne Selden helped Nes Ziona race out to a 33-23 lead after the first quarter and never looked back in the win. Angola led the visitors with 25 points, Miller added 22 points and 8 assists while Selden checked in with 22 points in the victory. Yam Madar led all scorers with 27 points to finish as the league’s leading Israeli scorer with 17.1 points per game, Justin Tillman added 15 points and 11 rebounds while JP Tokoto dropped 14 points and 10 assists in the loss. Immediately after the game Hapoel Tel Aviv signed James Young and JP Tokoto for the 2021/22 season.

Hapoel Haifa eased past Hapoel Holon 86-69 to end their first season back in the top flight after twenty years in 5th place overall. The Carmel Reds scored early and often for Elad Hasin’s squad as Stefanos Dedas opted to rest two of his stars Chris Johnson and CJ Harris ahead of the playoffs with second place already sewed up. Jason Siggers and Keenan Evans screed 15 points a piece and Rakeem Buckles added 12 points in the win, while Joe Alexander lead Holon with 17 points in the loss.