I swear to you, for a moment I hesitated about writing this column. I mean, I had to write something, I couldn’t just leave it blank. After all, I made a commitment. And really, it’s for moments like these that we live, breathe, and love basketball.

But maybe I should’ve just sent the Halickman family a file full of emojis and left it at that. I admit it: I had a hard time finding the words and calming down my pulse as well as my adrenaline. Eventually, somehow, I managed.

Israel beat France at the EuroBasket. The last time that happened (actually, the last two times) was 28 years ago. Oded Katash was a 22-year-old kid, on his way to winning the tournament’s scoring title, 34 points in the group stage, then another 27 in the 9th place game. But this time it was much more impressive, because back then, France didn’t have a full roster of NBA players, EuroLeague stars and the best foreign player that belongs to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Who did they have? Their current coach, Frédéric Fauthoux, who starred for Pau-Orthez; and Stéphane Risacher, Zaccaris’s father.

Now, let’s admit the truth. Ariel Beit Halachmi “threw away” this game. He threw it alright and made the shot. The entire Israeli mindset was flipped upside down and it was the complete opposite of what we’d seen against Iceland and Poland. Suddenly, Nimrod Levi is in the starting lineup and plays the most minutes of any player in the first half. And Tomer Ginat comes off the bench, back to being the Ginat of Hapoel Tel Aviv (or maybe Metropolitans?!), showing leadership, making the right plays and is overflowing with self-confidence. Eitan Burg was thrown into the fire. Yam Madar danced like Yam Madar and Deni Avdija… well, he didn’t change. He stayed as himself, in the best way possible.

Israel officially joined the family of “normal” national teams in this tournament. Remember the criticism on Saturday about how Avdija and *Roman Sorkin were running out of gas and how Israel had the shortest bench in all of Europe? Well, this time, no player played more than 28 minutes and ten players played double-digit minutes.

The thinking was: 19 hours after a brutal loss to Poland and 45 hours before a Eurobasket defining game against Belgium, there’s no point in wearing down the stars we depend on. And lo and behold, suddenly the other players came in hungry and ambitious, eager to prove themselves. It turned out to be contagious and slowly the whole team gained confidence and everyone got into the game. And I mean really got into it, in every sense of the word.

The French did their part too. Five minutes into the game, they had only scored 4 points. In their wins over Belgium and Slovenia, they had 10 and 12 points at that same stage. But when they opened the fourth quarter with four offensive rebounds, it felt like a warning sign of things to come. But it ended up not being the domination under the basket as we feared and instead, it signaled a prolonged and uncharacteristic stretch of misses: 5/22 from the field in the final 10 minutes. Every time Elie Okobo or Jaylen Hoard managed to close the gap, another big play came from Avdija or Madar and another small-but-huge play from Ginat or Sorkin, sending a clear message: Don’t get in the way, this is a historic night.

Israeli athletes have shown a lot of character, composure and nerves of steel since their professional lives were also turned upside down on October 7th. Amid hostile crowds and tight security, without a true home court and under challenging conditions, they’ve achieved record-breaking results in various sports during wartime. Now, it’s the basketball team’s turn. The deafening boos during the playing of “Hatikvah” which threaten to become the new normal only pushed them further, sharpened them and locked them into that zone where you don’t throw games. You make shots.

We’re allowed and must enjoy this moment. But also remember: Israel has had beautiful, emotional and surprising wins in past Eurobaskets and the letdowns afterward were just as painful and surprising. That’s what happened with Georgia in Tel Aviv in 2017, after the overtime win over Germany; With Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015, after the back-to-back wins over Russia and Finland; And with Portugal in 2007, after big wins over Serbia and Croatia.

Yalla, this time it’s going to be different.