It’s not everyday that two of Israel’s finest basketball players get tip off against each other. And it’s certainly not just everyday that a pair of Sabras play each other in a European competition with Gal Mekel featuring for Malaga in Spain and Tomer Ginat for Metropolitans in France.

The 32-year old Mekel has traveled the world over the past decade making stops not only in Israel where he won a pair of league championships with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Gilboa Galil but also played in the NBA with the Mavericks and Pelicans, as well as in Italy, Russia, Serbia and now Spain.

Guard Gal Mekel joined his current team Unicaja Malaga just at the onset of the coronavirus and took part in the Spanish League’s season ending tournament this past June where he impressed as the club decided to retain his services for the upcoming campaign. A pass first, shoot second court general, Mekel is averaging 8.2 points and 5 assists in 20 minutes per game so far this season.

Ginat who will turn 26 next month is making his first foray outside the borders of the Holy Land after just finishing four years with Hapoel Tel Aviv and has already made an impact on his new team.

Power forward Tomer Ginat, made a move to France during this past offseason after captaining Hapoel Tel Aviv to a quarterfinal series against Maccabi Tel Aviv in which his team fell in a decisive third game. Playing close to 30 minutes a game for the Paris based squad, Ginat is averaging 11.5 points a game to go along with 7 boards and 2.2 assists, raising many eyebrows across the continent in just a short period of time.

The pair are certainly making a positive impact on both of their new teams as they look to capture European glory.

What was it like when the two tipped off against one another? A thrilling 96-88 victory for Mekel’s Malaga over Ginat’s Metropolitans as both players took center stage in the game that took place in Spain. Mekel scored 10 points and added 3 assists while Ginat scored 16 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and added 3 assists. Not a bad showing for the duo on the EuroCup’s grand stage.

“It was great to see a familiar face in my first EuroCup game,” Ginat told The Sports Rabbi. “It was a terrific experience to meet Gal as someone who has played at this level for many years. It was a challenge for us against a very good team. We’ll learn from this and continue to improve and get better!”

Gal Mekel was equally as happy to meet up with Ginat on the basketball court, “It was great to see Tomer. He had a great game and I was so happy to see yet another Israeli playing in Europe. I’m thrilled we won and it’s on to the next game.”

The next time the two will face each other will be November 3rd, so if you need some sanity on Election Day, why not tune in to check out how this pair of Israelis are faring on Tuesday afternoon? Who won’t be sorry.