Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem will tip-off Monday night (20:50) at Yad Eliyahu in the best-of-3 Israel Classico finals series for Holy Land Hoops supremacy. The yellow-and-blue punched their ticket to the championship series after knocking off Hapoel Holon 2-0 while the capital city reds defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-1 in their barnburner of a 3-game tilt.

Just ahead of the finals, both head coaches, Maccabi’s Oded Katash and Hapoel’s Yonatan Alon along with John Dibartolomeo and Roi Huber spoke about the upcoming clash.

“We knew that after the semifinals that no matter who our opponent was going to be in would certainly be a classic,” Katash began. “Jerusalem is a very good team, they had a hiccup in the middle of the season and their timing was off in the EuroCup as they were missing a few significant players. But as soon as they came back, they became a very dangerous and good team with a lot of quality.”

“There’s a reason they beat a good team like Hapoel Tel Aviv,” the bench boss continued. “That’s how we need to approach the game, to be aggressive, especially after the long break we had. I wouldn’t have chosen to have a derby in the semifinals in advance in order to maintain a high level of intensity. Obviously, also in terms of the mental approach, Jerusalem comes in here feeling good after having a great semifinal and I have no doubt, from getting to know the people there, that they are not satisfied with just that.”

“We’ll have to come prepared as it was a very difficult season. Under the circumstances, as I said, we managed to hold on and reach the final. We owe the title to ourselves and to the fans.,” Katash concluded.

Yonatan Alon also looked forward to the finals, “We can expect good, aggressive games as the championship is on the table, everyone wants it and is highly motivating. We will try to do our best. I think rebounding will be a major factor in this series. We know that each of us will do everything to win at any given moment and that’s the only thing that gives us confidence. We knew it before the game against Hapoel Tel Aviv, we knew it all year, and we know it today.”

Alon also spoke about how important it will be to shutdown Tamir Blatt, “You have to guard him a certain way, push him more into the paint and be very aggressive with him. You can’t stop him completely, he’s an excellent and versatile player, he does things and gets the other players involved in an extraordinary way. We have to make it difficult for him.”

Maccabi captain John Dibartolomeo shared his thoughts on the upcoming series, “The goals at Maccabi Tel Aviv are the same every year and that’s to win the championship. It will be a challenge, Jerusalem is a good team, with good momentum, but we worked hard all season to finish in first place, we got through the quarterfinals and the semifinals and we want to win.”

Dibartolomeo also spoke about some of the players that will need to be contained in order for Maccabi to take home the title against Jerusalem, a team that the club hasn’t played since 2017 in the finals and a club that the captain did not beat when he played with Maccabi Hiafa in 20217.

“Yovel Zoosman is an excellent player, who loves playing here at Yad Eliyahu. He is a key player for them and we will have to stop him because he aeffects their game in many ways, but that is the team’s job. Harper is having a great season, he puts pressure on the defenses, he is fast and knows how to create, it is not that one of our players will stop him, it will be a team effort. The truth is that I do not have a championship against Jerusalem yet. I played against them in one final when I was in Haifa and we lost, it would be nice to win this time, but a championship is a championship, it does not matter who against. The main thing is that you are on the side that lifts the trophy.”

Roi Huber, who was instrumental for Jerusalem in their game 3 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv added, “We’re coming into the finals after a tough series against Hapoel Tel Aviv and we want to come and start strong from the beginning and take the title. Hapoel Jerusalem Is back where they belong, playing in the finals. It’s time to get two more important wins to complete the mission. The main thing here is our team and the mission and I don’t worry about myself too much. I came to a good team that was playing well and I am here to give the extra to help out and I’m glad that in the last game I was able to do exactly that.”

Huber continued, “The situation of coming to a team at such a stage of the season is special. I focused on what I could do to help. The most important thing is that the team wins in such a situation and that’s what we’re aiming for. Maccabi Tel Aviv is a good team, there are all sorts of keys to stopping them, everyone knows how they play and we need to be aggressive from the first minute. Austin Wiley is important for us, but every player is important in a series like this and I believe everyone will be ready to go.”