To many it was quite a stunner. Maccabi Tel Aviv, a beat up Maccabi Tel Aviv, an injured Maccabi Tel Aviv, a Maccabi Tel Aviv that was coming into a game on their home court against Hapoel Jerusalem where they weren’t exactly the favorites, but found a way to come out on top in what was a thrilling Israel State Cup Classico semifinal clash.

However, to some, to the believers, it was not such a big surprise. Jeff Dowtin who had been buried on the bench and in the stands for weeks, scored in every which way over the course of the first half to give Oded Katash’s squad a chance to stay with the reds. Roman Sorkin dominated the inside despite having collected a fourth foul early on in the final frame. Jimmy Clark soared through the air and left Jerusalem lying in the waste. Gur Lavy came out of nowhere in the third quarter to will the yellow-and-blue bask from the depths of close to a double digit deficit. Jaylen Hoard who scored the big buckets down the stretch to close out the game.

A game that three Maccabi stalwarts weren’t available to play due to injury in TJ Leaf, Iffe Lundberg and Lonnie Walker.

The Maccabi believers were the big winners in this game as the country’s most decorated franchise will once again have a chance to add some more hardware to their trophy closet.

Of course a ton of that credit has to go to Katash who just seems to always press the right buttons to get the most out of his team while making the right moves at the right time.

Dowtin in all reality had no business being the player who kept Maccabi in this game, especially considering how little he has played all season long. But had Katash not played the guard for 25 minutes last week against Maccabi Ranaana, who knows what type of real game shape he would have been in.

Had Jimmy Clark not have gained a ton of playing time and confidence next to Lundberg the past couple of months, who knows how he would have reacted in a win or go home game.

Had Lavy not been given key minutes against Bayern Munich and scored some crucial points in last week’s Euroleague, who knows how he would have come off of the bench cold in the middle of the third quarter to ignite Maccabi’s comeback.

All of these are not coincidences and they don’t just happen because these players step onto the floor. It all has to do with how Katash managed his squad not just during the game but the days, weeks and months leading up to the clash.

Jerusalem’s Head Coach Yonatan Alon said he was ready for Dowtin and knew what he could do, but those close to the team and many of an observer would disagree with that wholeheartedly. Alon was not prepared well enough for any and every possible outcome.

He lost forward Nimrod Levi last week who is now hobbling around in crutches and that was a major blow to the team which he unquestionably felt was a reason why his team came up short in this game. Alon also needed to use a very short rotation which cost him dearly down the stretch as the writing was clearly on the wall that at some point the reds would run out of gas and that they did as they were outscored 28-17 in the final frame of the contest.

Maccabi used 10 players who were on the floor for a minimum of 11 minutes while Jerusalem used only 8 who played ten minutes or more. Three of Alon’s players featured for more than 30 minutes, Katash had none. That’s where the game was decided. Jerusalem’s players were exhausted when it came to crunch time, Maccabi’s were not.

One can look at the statsheet and see that Maccabi outrebounded Jerusalem to the tune of 48-39 and had 8 blocks to 4, but there were two really big numbers that also told the story of the game and they both belonged to Jared Harper.

3/11 from two-point range and 1/6 from beyond the arc.

Those are very un-Harper-esque numbers.

But it also explained part of the story. Maccabi’s defense on more than one occasion smothered him while he was just not hitting his shots all game long.

It was Maccabi’s hustle, desire and just doing all of the little things, wanting to win this game perhaps just that much more than Hapoel Jerusalem that was the bottom line.

Jerusalem will now take a deep breath and prepare to get back to Israeli league play next week as they will have a month off until the quarterfinal of the EuroCup, a competition that they want to so desperately win and punch their ticket to the Euroleague just as Hapoel Tel Aviv had done last year. Maccabi on the other hand will get ready for the final which will be against the winner of the Hapoel HaEmek and Bnei Herzliya game and then immediately turn their sights back onto the Euroleague and a possible Play In berth as well as the Israeli league.

Maccabi as they will say have done nothing yet, but in reality they did much, much more than many had expected them to. That’s the case not only in the State Cup but in the domestic league where they are in first place and the Euroleague where many had already written the season off but find themselves in the hunt with a 13-15 record, three wins behind the tenth place team.

Both teams have goals in place that are all within striking distance and Maccabi will look to reach theirs on Thursday night back on their home court of Yad Eliyahu.