For the first time this season – and ever – both Israeli teams won in the same EuroLeague round. Maccabi stunned Zalgiris (and themselves) with a brilliant performance, while Hapoel woke up just in time and avoided an embarrassing loss to weak Villeurbanne.

We didn’t see this coming

At the end of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s huge 83–65 win at the Zalgirio Arena, I had only one question: Who are you? And what have you done with Maccabi Tel Aviv?! Maybe the moment that best captured how different this team looked from the Maccabi we’ve seen until now came with one minute left in the game—garbage time inside the garbage time. Oshae Brissett, who was absolutely dreadful just a week ago against Milano, stripped the ball from fresh European champion Maodo Lo. Two more yellow shirts ran with him to finish the layup on the other end. Seconds later, he violently blocked Rubstavicius’ shot, sparking another three-on-one fast break. Sorkin’s shot was blocked, but they grabbed the offensive rebound and scored again in transition: Maccabi lead by 20.

That was the team’s ninth steal, eighth block (!), 13th offensive rebound, and 11th fast-break point. Some of these were season highs; all were well above their season averages. This was a completely uncharacteristic game compared to the first 13 rounds of the season. Maccabi controlled (almost) the entire night against a EuroLeague contender, held them to just 65 points—more than 20 below their average—and slammed the door every time they tried to reopen it.

From the first quarter, it looked like Oded Katash’s team showed up committed for once. Maybe the backing he received earlier this week did something to the players. In the opening minutes, Clark managed to keep Francisco from getting into rhythm, while Hoard opened the game brilliantly on both ends and showed just how much he’d been missed in the last two weeks. When Lundberg came in, Maccabi finally looked organized, and the Dane delivered some very solid minutes, showing he can be the guy both to initiate possessions and to finish them. Leaf chipped in his points too, but the first real run came courtesy of the first of two “Lonnie Walker runs.” The American guard, who had his mother in the stands, entered his zone with ten straight points, blowing the lead open to 21 at halftime while the Lithuanians couldn’t hit anything from deep—1-of-12, yes, you read that correctly.

Sylvain Francisco finished the game 0-for-7 from three, scoring most of his points from the line. Maccabi’s physicality made his life miserable, and his usual dominance worked against Zalgiris last night. Late in the third quarter, with him on the bench, Zalgiris finally began chipping away, cutting the gap from 25 to 14. And then—right on cue—came the second run from number 8 in yellow. Everything is true: he is selfish, it isn’t always real basketball, it doesn’t always go in, and yes, his style already cost and will cost Maccabi games. But Walker IV came into the fourth quarter and ran the show alone, scoring nine straight points to ensure Maccabi’s demons wouldn’t haunt them tonight in Kaunas.

It was refreshing to see Maccabi assertive, packed in defensively, bringing help, blocking shots, and protecting the rim—finally. Here’s a stat: Zalgiris grabbed 20 offensive rebounds but scored only 10 second-chance points. Last week Milano had 11 offensive boards—nine fewer—and turned them into 12 points. Maccabi’s defensive intensity has been missing all season; offensively it showed up only occasionally, mostly didn’t. Last night, though, they stayed locked in until the final possession—the beautiful alley-oop to Hoard. We were dreaming.

Of course, Katash shouldn’t wake up tomorrow too happy. Not every night the opponent will shoot 5-of-29 from three (17.2%); Tamir Blatt looked like a liability on both ends; and Walker’s crazy shots won’t always fall. But the commitment, fight, and desire to win that Maccabi showed last night offer a ray of optimism. It isn’t the mediocre roster that dragged them to the EuroLeague basement—it was the apathy. And the madness they displayed might be what pulls them out. Next week they return home after a long exile, and they absolutely can beat Villeurbanne. Stringing three wins in a row after facing Dubai wouldn’t be far-fetched either. If Katash can maintain what his team showed in Kaunas, this nightmare European season might still hold a few happy moments for Maccabi fans.

This one we did see coming… until Blakeney arrived

Hapoel Tel Aviv experienced a strange night. Maybe it was the empty arena in Botevgrad, maybe the fully healthy roster, maybe the weak opponent from last place—but the Reds came dangerously close to “stealing” Maccabi’s title as surprise of the round before they managed to come back and win 87–80.

The game opened exactly as you’d expect from a top-vs-bottom matchup: Hapoel, loaded with talent, playing at their pace while Villeurbanne had no answers. The French tried a zone, and Tyler Ennis rained down two straight threes that immediately forced them back to man-to-man. Man-to-man couldn’t stop the Oturu & Motley show—both big men cutting into a wide-open paint and getting fed by whichever guard had the ball, combining for 25 first-half points. Yam Madar and Tomer Ginat (and Odiase) were waiting on the bench to return from injury; Ginat entered, absorbed some heavy hits, and scored a few points. Late in the second quarter, Hapoel was right in their comfort zone: up 15, with 45 points in only 17 minutes.

Then complacency arrived. Villeurbanne went on an 11-2 run to end the half down just 6, and midway through the third quarter they actually took the lead. They don’t have much to offer in this EuroLeague season, but they had Nando De Colo in one absolutely huge night. The legendary Frenchman took over—driving, pulling up, drawing fouls, and staying perfect from the line as always. Hapoel’s guards, meanwhile, were awful. Bryant had a dreadful shooting night—just 4 points (2-for-8)—and Micic was just as bad (2-for-7). Jones still had zero points, and Ennis remained stuck on the same 8 he scored early in the game. Blakeney didn’t look sharp either, stuck on six points until midway through the fourth. With Hapoel shooting 3-for-15 from deep, most of the production came from the big men.

During this stretch, Itoudis sat on the bench waiting for the talent gap to take over—but when De Colo reached 22 points and put Villeurbanne up 77–66 with 6:06 to go, he took a timeout that, in hindsight, won Hapoel the game. “We need to show more passion. We’re losing,” the Greek coach told his players, who were heading toward an embarrassing loss to the league’s weakest team. And how do you say? The rest is history.

Hapoel emerged from that timeout a completely different team. How different? As different as it gets. From that moment on, they locked in defensively—automatic switching, no space for the French to breathe, let alone get good shots. On offense, everything ran exclusively through Antonio Blakeney, who did exactly what was needed—with passion. How much passion? As much as it gets. He got to the line, attacked the paint, and even hit his first three of the night, giving Hapoel the lead after a 13-0 run. And he didn’t stop there—the run didn’t stop there. Blakeney drove, kicked out to Wainwright for another three, and then the camera cut immediately to a chest-bump between Blakeney and his coach in the middle of the court—the same coach who had just told him to bring passion. Blakeney then grabbed a huge rebound and won a jump-ball that led to Malcolm finishing the game from the line. Nobody doubted him. What a player.

Still, if I’m handing out credit today, I start with Dimitris Itoudis, who for three quarters allowed his players freedom to make mistakes and fall asleep, but knew exactly when to grab them by the ear. Hapoel went on a 21-3 run to finish the game. Itoudis also recognized that if the game plan was now Blakeney-and-four-others, the small-ball lineup with Wainwright and Malcolm at the 4 and 5 was the right one—it gave Blakeney the spacing he needed. Oturu, who was terrific and led the team with 18 points, sat with four minutes left, and from that moment Hapoel ran 19-3 with that small lineup, with zero contribution from Elijah Bryant (defense only) and Micic (clapping only from the bench).

Unlike the games against Olympiacos, Fener, and Real Madrid, Hapoel Tel Aviv managed to learn a lesson and win. The game was clunky, the threes didn’t fall, the energy was low—but in the end, that’s what the coach is there for: to reset the team, put the right five on the court, and take the game. Against a team with more than one Nando De Colo, this probably ends in another loss. But Hapoel walks away with a win that might prove far more important than expected—and another week in first place.