LIKES

I liked how Oren Aharoni had his Bnei Herzliya team mentally ready to rock and roll and against Maccabi Tel Aviv as they played airtight defense only allowing 59 points to the Yellow & Blue. Chinanu Onuaku, Chris Babb, Andy Van Vliet, Quinton Hooker and the rest of the crew knew how to stymie Ioannis Sfairopoulos’s squad right after they had downed Hapoel Jerusalem in the Israeli Classico

I liked how Hapoel Eilat seems to finally look like a team to be reckoned with as Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad knocked off Hapoel Holon down at the Red Sea. Eilat seems to be clicking on all cylinders as Roi Huber just continues to come into his own. Kristian Doolittle, one of the last pieces of the puzzle also has been starting to come into his own and chalked up a double-double.

I liked how Hapoel Galil Elyon is back and better than ever chalking up victories once again, this time against Hapoel Beer Sheva holding the southern Reds to just 19 first half points. Yes, you read right. 19 points at the half, not the quarter. An offensive display like that by any professional club is inexcusable and as of right now, Beer Sheva with only 4 wins are going to challenge Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion for relegation to the second division.

I liked how Hapoel Tel Aviv has really started to come together and play solid basketball which is definitely a result of having a full squad available to coach Danny Franco who won his 200th career game. James Young is starting to look like the James Young of old while J’Covan Brown is looking like vintage J’Covan Brown as they downed Gilboa Galil up in the Galilee.

DISLIKES

I disliked how Hapoel Holon came into a game lackadaisically and just didn’t seem to have the right energy needed to even compete. Maurizio Buscaglia’s team has had a number of these poor performances where his squad just didn’t show up and that has been an issue throughout the campaign where they believe that they can just show up, but it doesn’t work like that.

I disliked how Hapoel Gilboa Galil just can’t put it together for a full 40 minutes in order to get a win. One can see how this is sitting on the team’s personality as the losses build up and it just seems that maybe rookie coach Guy Kaplan is struggling to get his message across. Somehow Gilboa has got to find a way to win soon or else they will be battling against relegation at the bottom of the table as they only have 4 wins to date.

I disliked how Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos used every excuse in the book to explain why his team not only lost but scored a paltry amount of 59 points in one of the poorest performances by the team over the past half decade. Maccabi looked awful and out of it and couldn’t hit the side of a barn as they went 5/26 from outside of the arc on many shots that were uncontested.

I disliked how Beer Sheva yet once again lost and lost in style with absolutely pathetic offense from the entire squad. Nothing against Netta Segal but there can be no situation where he is the club’s leading scorer. The imports are weak and inconsistent time and time again and Christoforos Livatiotis better start winning as they are heading the wrong way very fast.