Hapoel Tel Aviv for all intents and purposes played what felt like a playoff game against Red Star Belgrade at the Jerusalem Arena and came away with a solid win over a very good team. There was intensity, aggressiveness and plenty of talent on the floor on both sides as they played a tough as nails matchup to the delight of the home crowd finally being able to watch the Reds in Israel.

Despite the game not being in Tel Aviv due to Hanukah Festival, more than 7,000 fans made their way to the capital city to cheer their heroes on as they finally had the opportunity to see real life Hapoel Tel Aviv Euroleague basketball.

It was toe-to-toe throughout the 40 minutes with Jared Butler and Elijah Bryant having a one-on-one scoring contest so to speak with the latter besting the former 28-27 in what was a fantastic offensive output from both players.

But at the end of the day, the player that made all of the difference was Chris Jones with two huge baskets late while the aforementioned Bryant iced the the game with a pair of free throws to sew up the Hapoel win to move their record 12-4 on the season, good for first place while Red Star dropped to 9-7.

Bryant recored a career high in points and in 3-pointers with 6 in the game, but the modest BYU product who also played for Hapoel Eilat and Maccabi Tel Aviv didn’t want to take credit for his own success, “It’s exciting. I think it’s just a testament to the belief my teammates have in me and the belief that my coaches have in me. And the work I put in in the summer. So, I think preparation is what’s got me here and I have confidence in myself.”

In addition to Bryant, Dan Oturu has continued to play an important role in the paint and dropped 18 points including a nice number of devastating dunks. The pair were teammates last season in Turkey and its clear that the two very much enjoy playing with one another.

‘That’s my brother and at the end of the day, this is year three of us playing together,” Oturu said of Bryant. “He’s been in Europe, he has a lot of experience and he’s somebody that’s helped me adapt to how to play out here in Europe, so he’s my brother, I love him and he’s a great player but an even better person at the end of the day, so shout out to Elijah.”

Bryant returned the favor, “Obviously, me and Dan have played in the EFES. We have a really special connection, especially when we pick a role. We know how to play with each other. So, he makes my job a lot easier and hopefully I can make his a little bit easier, too.”

Collin Malcolm praised the pair of Bryant and Oturu, “Honestly, I didn’t even notice the amount of points that they had until I looked up and I was like, oh, okay. Because it’s so moment to moment that you’ve got to stay in the moment. You’re not really getting caught up in how much people have and whatnot. I see Elijah go to work every day and he’s super professional. Definitely a guy I watch and try to take notes from.”

With the quality on either side of the court and with the feeling that this was played at the level of a playoff game, bench boss Dimitrios Itoudis made sure to confirm the fans feelings about the clash.

“It looked like a playoff game, every game matters and the effort the the players are giving and what we are doing is promising, we are not perfect and not cocky. We need to be much better and I do enjoy what I see.”

One thing that he certainly saw other than Bryant and Oturu scoring at will was the defensive effort that Malcolm puts in game in and game out as he also recorded a career high in rebounds with 11 boards. The forward has fit like a glove for the club and he’s super excited to be in the hunt after spending two seasons with Paris Basket and playing in a super tight matchup.

“It feels amazing,” Malcolm began. “It’s one of the reasons I came. I knew Hapoel has a great home fan base. They showed up tonight and it was loud and it was insanely fun. They gave us all the energy. They were loud at the right times, they were pushing at the right times. They know basketball so they know what they’ve got to do.

“I feel like being in the EuroLeague, the difference from EuroLeague to the NBA is every game is a playoff game, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. You can be playing a bottom of the table team and it’s going to be a fight to the end. Of course, they [Red Star} have insane quality and they’ve been on a roll ever since their coaching change so we knew it was going to be a fight.”

Although the Reds are sitting at the top of the standings with an incredible record, they’ve on played 16 of 38 games and have not even reached the halfway mark. There is plenty more to go and even Itoudis knows full well there will most probably be some rough patches along the way but ultimately the goal is to remain in the Euroleague nay making the playoffs. More than that, well, the sky’s the limit Bryant explained.

“I think my biggest goal is just winning. I think I’m just going to try to play my best every single night and see what happens. Just go out there and try to be the best teammate, best player that I can be and we’ll see what happens. But the ultimate goal is just to win.

“We’re first place right now, but the goal is to be first place at the end of the season. So it’s a very long season and we’re just focused on taking it one step at a time. Tomorrow we’ll have a flight and then the next day we’ll have another game, the next day another game. But don’t look too far ahead. Just focus on getting better daily in every single game, every single practice and see what happens.”

Oturu agreed as the squad is deep with plenty of ability to make an impact in any given game, “At the end of the day, it’s a team game and we have a lot of players on our team that can impact the game in positive ways. We have a team of guys that are ready to come and compete each and every night. So it’s a unique opportunity that we have in front of us and at the end of the day, we just got to try our best to maximize what we have in front of us.”

Malcolm felt the same way about the players who are on the team and also spoke about what ways for Hapoel on Thursday night, a date with Panathinaikos in Athens in front of 20,000+ fans.

“This team is so talented. Look around the lockerroom even people who aren’t playing, those dudes can hoop. We see it in practice every day and we’re fine with anybody taking any close shots, whoever’s day it is, at the end of the game.

“Unfortunately, we only have one day to prepare for it. Coach Itoudis is going to give us the game plan there. Even playing defense individually is still a team concept because you need everybody to help cutting off driving lanes which we will need to do against Panathinaikos.”

The bottom line is that Hapoel is playing at very high level and it they cn keep it up there’s no doubt that they will find themselves in the postseason at the end of the season.