Maccabi Tel Aviv silenced all of the doubters that they are still the team to beat despite all of Hapoel Tel Aviv’s big time player signings over the summer and the addition of 2x Euroleague championship coach Dimitrios Itoudis as they took a 97-79 win at Yad Eliyahu. There had been plenty of talk that the Reds would supplant the yellow-and-blue as the top dog in the country but that hasn’t occurred yet as Oded Katash’s squad understood what it was going to take to win the Derby despite having an up and down season in Europe.

There’s no question that Maccabi has had a tough go in the Euroleague and currently sport a 4-10 record as they entered the clash against their cross city rivals after falling twice last week in continental competition. But while the game was billed as a Euroleague game, it was the Euroleague team who came out on top.

Maccabi wanted the game more from beginning to end. They understood the importance of a Derby from the captain John Dibartolomeo to veteran Jake Cohen and from Jaylen Hoard who played with Hapoel to Levi Randolph who featured for Jerusalem, it was clear from the outset that Katash’s crew had the know how and the intangibles of what it takes to win this type of game.

The fans on both sides of the street came in to celebrate the game and enjoy themselves without any of the extracurricular activity such as flares and the like as the police had stated that should a flare be lit the game would be called off. With that in mind the supporters filled the arena and really just had a grand ole time as they packed into Yad Eliyahu for the first time since the finals series back in June.

There were no attendance restrictions and no threat of missiles from Hezbollah or Hamas as a return to some sort of normalcy filled the atmosphere with the hope that one day soon European basketball would return to the Holy Land.

The game started off with a blast so to speak as both sides went back and forth at an NBA pace, hitting one shot after the next from every angle as they dazzled the fans who couldn’t get enough of the action.

Whether it was Patrick Beverley on Itoudis’s side with some nice buckets early but unfortunately suffered a tear in his quad that will now keep him out 6 weeks or so or Rokas Jokubaitis who took the ball like a boss to the hoop throughout the opening frame to help Maccabi keep pace, it was scintillating basketball plain and simple.

Jokubaitis, who was playing in his first Tel Aviv Derby had no problems getting into the game with points off the bat looked like the player Maccabi expected him to be. That’s not to say he has not lived up to expectations, but as Katash explained, the Lithuanian is moving from one role to anther and the adjustment period will take time.

“He’s still new and is learning, this process” the Maccabi bench boss said. “He’s an amazing kid and has a special character, he’s making a bit of a transition from being a role player to one that will be more dominant and it’s going to take time.”

From there, it was Hoard’s turn to take over and take over he did with an axe to grind as he scored points a plenty against his former team from the outside, to the inside to dunkaroos. He wanted to send a message loud and clear to Hapoel and their fans who caused him “tsuris” after joining the yellow-and-blue. 12 points in a row that created a nice gap for Maccabi was just what the doctor ordered as he finished with a game high 26 points and one big smile as he was marked as public enemy #1 by the reds faithful.

“After the summer I made a basketball decision and a lot of people had something to say about it, cursing me on social media, threatening me and stuff like that,” Hoard explained. “They were talking a lot about the players they signed and I wanted to come out here and prove myself. Nothing personal but I had a lot to prove and I had a lot of anger inside of me so I wanted to display it on the court. Ever since the day it happened, I’ve been thinking of this moment all season, because they were talking every day and I see everything, so I took it personally and displayed it on the court.”

Hoard certainly expressed his feelings towards the Hapoel fans with gestures galore, but as Katash said, he felt that his forward kept it within the right boundaries and didn’t cross any lines, “Jaylen has a special character. The whole thing with Hapoel fans – I know him, he made the transition from Hapoel to Maccabi and with all of the emotions he has, he does have plenty of respect for where he came from. As long as it stays on a sporting level, it’s fine.”

Levi Randolph, who was crucial down the stretch in the victory, also spoke about Hoard’s performance and how in two weeks he will be in a similar situation when he visits Hapoel Jerusalem; a team he played with for two seasons.

“It’s basketball and we know what Jaylen can do and he knows what’s at stake. He was at Hapoel for the last two years and has a lot of love for their fans, he knows what it’s like to be on the other side. I told him that I’m behind him 100% and to go play some tough basketball. Going to Hapoel Jerusalem, I will do what I can do to help my team win and it’s not about me but the team wining as many games as possible and for the opportunity to win the championship. I have a lot of love for those fans and a lot of great moments and I wouldn’t disrespect them.”

Wenyen Gabriel who has been much maligned this season since returning from a preseason injury was fabulous and was active on both sides of the floor playing arguably his best game in a Maccabi uniform in a contest that they really, really needed him to with the news that big man Jasiel Rivero will be out 4-6 weeks with a hamstring tear.

The South Sudan international was all over the place on defense and played smart on offense as a true X-Factor for the yellow-and-blue as they will hope that he will gain some positive momentum and continue with his fine play going forward.

Katash made a point in this post game press conference to acknowledge Gabriel’s play and complimented him for a job well done, “I have to mention Wenyen Gabriel, who came in and did some terrific things. I hear talk [about Gabriel], but he came back from injury and it’s a process. I remember the talk about Josh Nebo after a few months he was with us and also about Jasiel Rivero when we signed him, who is perhaps our most dominant big man.

“We need time, we are all suffering from what has been happening in the country. I really liked the way Gabriel played and there are difficulties players adapting in some cases, especially centers. After a month and a half of a good preseason, he was injured. He is a player who hasn’t played in Europe. But I have to give him credit for the desire to learn and the ability to stay positive. It’s not easy to do. I am very happy. If Rivero hadn’t been injured, Wenyen may have very well not played. He was great.”

Randolph also spoke about Gabriel and how he has been adapting and trying to find his rhythm as well, “I talk to Wenyen every day and I always tell him that he’s doing a great job. It’s an adjustment for him and he was in the NBA which was a totally different style. The injury in preseason set him back as you go through a lot of things during that time and now he’s getting his timing and winning back. He’s been doing a great job, it’s basketball and it happens. It’s a long season and he can help us a lot, we gave a great team and great locker room.”

Hapoel just couldn’t match anything that Maccabi threw at them and as Ish Wainright explained, they’ve just got to be better or else they won’t meet their goals.

“They played harder than us and it’s a Derby and we have to play much harder. Maccabi was more motivated and out rebounded us and just played harder. They are the toughest team we have played but everyone is tough. We will watch the game start to finish and learn from that, it’s a long season. We pride ourselves on defense and we have to come in and play defense from start to finish. It’s unacceptable, we have to be better and this will be the result every game of we don’t lock in.”

Itoudis looked like he was sending a message as the game was in the middle of the fourth quarter when he had 4 Israelis on the court along with Wainright in what seemed to be a message to his imports, Marcus Foster and Marcua Bingham as well as Bruno Caboclo, that they could have done a better job.

The Greek bench boss had very little patience to explain to the press as why Tomer Ginat didn’t get into the game earlier and was not a factor until, much later, to which he answered, “Because I’m the coach.” Or when asked why this player or that player was dressed or not, Itoudis had had a enough and left the dais shaking his head, knowing that he had not been able to crack Maccabi Tel Aviv this time around.

It may happen the next time or the time after that, but for now, Randolph and especially Katash were just happy to see the game of basketball being played at a very high level in front of a sellout crowd. They were thrilled to see high level hoops back at Yad Eliyahu with the hope that that this is a sign of things to come and the club will also pick up some momentum in continental competition.

“It felt good to play in front of our fans and not having Euroleague at home, we don’t experience a lot and we enjoy experiencing this. We hope the other Israeli league games they come out for us. I think it’s a great momentum builder and we’ve been in every Euroleague game. Coach always says it’s a process so a lot of respect to everyone as to how we have handled it. It will take us time to learn how to win some of those close games and hopefully we can roll this into the Euroleague and get some games at home and some of those close games can be wins.”

“I’ve missed it so much,” Katash commented. “It’s really special and we were really excited the last two or three days playing in front of our crowd in a full gym, since October 7th things have been so different. It’s really special and so hard to put in words. It’s gives us hope that things will go back to normal. Things take time and have to be put in proportion as there are bigger things that are taking place in this country. But having 11,000 people here for a great game is perhaps a sign that things are moving the right way.”