Hapoel Jerusalem demolished Nahariya 92-53 at home thanks to solid defense, quality shooting and the visitor’s going 0/26 from 3-point land. Tamir Blatt scored 8 first quarter points hitting a pair of 3’s in the frame to set the tone as the guard ended the game with 13 points. Bar Timor led all Jerusalem scorers with 14 points while Chris Johnson and James Feldeine each dropped 12 points in the win. Terry Allen led Nahariya with 14 points in the loss.

3-Pointers
1) Nahariya went an abysmal 0/26 from beyond the arc which was a record in Israeli basketball and who knows perhaps a record throughout the basketball universe. Myke Henry 0/8, Terry Allen 0/6, Justin Edwards 0/4 are just three of the Nahariya players who couldn’t find the bottom of the basket from deep. But it wast just the lack of 3-point shooting that did the visitor’s in. Scoring only 13 bench points, being outrebounded 51-39 and shooting only 41% from 2 didn’t he’ll matters for Mickey Gorka’s side.

2) It was surprising to see Myke Henry, a prolific scorer having a tough time all night long finishing with just 7 points and going 3/17. I asked Da’Sean Butler about how Jerusalem shut down the one time NBA player, “We know that he’s a tough guy to guard and a really good player and I’ve seen him play numerous times. But when you’re playing against guys who can score like that you obviously focus on them. They have a good team and we wanted to make sure we left our imprint on the game.” And an imprint was certainly left.

3) TaShawn Thomas made his Israeli league return playing in his first domestic match since his suspension ended and he certainly made an immediate impact scoring 10 points on 5/5 shooting, grabbing 9 boards and dishing out 3 assists. Following the game I asked him about his feelings on his debut for the Reds, “It felt good and the crowd was rocking. It felt good to be in that environment for the first time.” Thomas also spoke about how he stayed in shape to be ready to go, “I feel pretty good and I’ve been working out on my conditioning a lot. I wanted to try and hit the ground running when I got back so I’m pretty good right now.” He also looked ahead to Wednesday night’s continental clash against Nymburk, “Definitely looking forward and we want to make good things happen in the Champions League.” It’s good to have TaShawn back.