Gotta give credit where credit is due, Hapoel Beer Sheva was by far the better team in their 74-71 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv and deserved every ounce of kudos sent their way. From their coach Christoforos Livadiotis to Junior Etou, Derek Pardon and Netta Sgeal, they can enjoy and celebrate their victory in what was a battle between David and Goliath. Maccabi being Goliath the giant with their supposedly better quality players and of course their budget size and the fact that they play in the Euroleague.

Beer Sheva, David, a recently promoted team in an area of the country that is still trying to understand what basketball really is and where soccer is king, still has a way to go in attracting a loyal fanbase to their brand new arena right next to their spectacular stadium. The club has gone through growing pains from moving up from the Leumit League to ensuring their Premier League survival to having made the playoffs a couple of times to having issues convincing Israelis players that the southern capital is the place to be.

It’s not easy for sure, but former head coach Rami Hadar did a wonderful job building the club into a team that can compete with the best of the best and that defeated Maccabi just last year when Caleb Agada scored 43 points on April 28th to down the Yellow & Blue.

This season has not been kind to Beer Sheva as Hadar resigned and the club brought on a new head coach in Cypriot Christoforos Livadiotis who hasn’t fared much better on the court struggling to stay afloat.

There had been calls to replace some of their foreign players who have not produced on a consistent level on the court and the only reason the team had not been in the league’s basement is because Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion had been such a train wreck all campaign long.

However, with their 7th win of the season, they leapfrogged over a pair of teams and into 9th place, 3 games ahead of Rishon in the loss column and two wins behind 8th place Galil Elyon.

The question that Livadiotis must be asking himself is how did my team play so well against Maccabi but can’t do the same when they face other teams. Where was this effort, energy and desire when we lost to the likes of Nes Ziona and Hapoel Gilboa Galil.

It’s natural that players get up when they face the big boys, the evil empire, the best of the best as they know it’s a challenge unlike any other that they will face during the season. Etou, Pardon, Cody Demps, Amir Bell, Amit Suss have to make sure they are present every game not just against Maccabi which is a contest that if you win, will get coverage across Europe and could help the players with the next stop in their career.

Regardless though, Livadiotis was thrilled to take down Maccabi and collect a win that saw his troops manhandle the visitors on the boards and all of the court with physicality and drive.

“We all know who Maccabi is,” Livadiotis said. “When you are down by 14 points to Maccabi it’s not easy but basketball is a game of runs and when we were down by 10 points or 10 points up we take it possession by possession. We always play to win but the question was how we would react after two very bad games, but this showed the character and mentality of the team.”

“Sometimes the statsheet doesn’t tell the story of the game but the stats do in this case as we had 45 rebounds to Maccabi’s 29.This shows the desire and energy that we wanted to get to any loose ball. We had 18 assists and we kept Maccabi on 9 which showed that we were very organized on defense and we didn’t let them move the ball. We moved the ball really well and had the most spot up shots than in any other game. This is the picture of the game.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv didn’t dress their star guard Scottie Wilbekin and that can’t be used by any of the players or staff as an excuse why they lost. The yellow-and-blue have the firepower and quality to beat any team without Wilbekin and the fact that they couldn’t put them in an awfully uncomfortable situation, having to hear that they can’t win without him.

“He’s our guy so of course it’s tough to play without him,” Keenan Evans whose 16 points led Maccabi but had issues moving the ball with only 1 assist. “But that is still on us as these are very winnable games. We played good and missed a lot of open shots, that’s on us.”

Avi Even, Maccabi’s interim coach also spoke about how his team needs to not always rely on Wilbekin to save them, “I think we have enough players here that can set the tone when Scottie Wilbekin isn’t playing. We have to learn from this game. They are a tough team and played more physical than we did and we missed a lot of open shots and layups.”

Maccabi had plenty of players capable of finding the hoop but one after the next they came up empty. From James Nunnally, Iftach Ziv, Roman Sorkin, Jake Cohen, Oz Blayzer, Ante Zizic and Khyri Thomas, those players combined for a pitiful 24 points in 120 total minutes. YIKES!

Evans also agreed with the opposing coach’s thoughts as to how Beer Sheva just simply outplayed and outhustled the yellow-and-blue, “Just being more physical and we let people push us around. When the shot goes up we watch the ball and kind of just expect it to bounce in our hands, but that’s not how basketball goes. It usually goes to those who are more physical and want it more. We got to do better than that.”

As for Beer Sheva, can they somehow use this win to spur them on to bigger a better things as the season continues along?

“We will come to the next practice humble as we have games to win. We are not thinking about the playoffs but how to get better every practice. We can’t forget that there was a new coach in the middle of the season and it’s like we had pre-season right in the middle. Sometimes it takes time.”

For now, Livadiotis will ready for the next challenge, a trip to Hapoel Holon which is never an easy matchup along with 3 more home games ahead of the 3rd round. The bench boss is well aware of what the real secret to the success of his team is, the supporters who helped spur his club to the surprise win.

“The fans pushed us a lot when we were down and Maccabi was playing well. They kept helping the team and we felt the positive vibe on the court.”