Another Euroleague game and another tough loss for Maccabi Tel Aviv after having been ahead of Barcelona by double digits but ultimately fell 88-86 in a heartbreaker that leaves the Yellow & Blue with a 4-10 record in continental competition this season. Oded Katash’s team looked very good a certain points in this game with quality runs littered throughout the contest, but once again when it came down to money time they came undone and couldn’t come off with a solid play with the last ball of the contest.

After the game, Maccabi and Katash once again looked down in the dumps and one could hear it in their voices that there wasn’t much to say. Another game, another loss as their thoughts of finding a way into the Play In moved further and further away from reality.

Maccabi doesn’t have enough quality players, depth and a go to guy in crunch time to close out games against the majority of teams in the Euroleague and as painful as that must sound it’s the facts, no more and no less. Saben Lee won two games for the Yellow & Blue and now he’s gone and there is no one who is a clear cut player that can take that last ball and close out a victory which is going to cost them.

Katash needs some more quality on this roster should they want to even compete at this point and not make the final twenty games of the Euroleague season totally irrelevant ad there should be funds for that if you looks at what players have come and gone since the start of the season. However, it doesn’t look like management wants to make the moves that the bench boss sees as a necessity. Sure there are financial considerations across the board and tremendous losses by not having home games in Israel, that is understood, but they are in essence cutting off their nose to spite their face without bringing in the tools that Katash needs to be competitive and have a chance to win.

Now, the Derby is on the fire this coming Sunday as Hapoel Tel Aviv will be coming in for the kill under their new head coach Dimitrios Itoudis and that is something that Maccabi should be very concerned about.

“The aim is to get the win for sure,” former Hapoel big man Jaylen Hoard said about the upcoming contest, one that he played in over the past couple of seasons. “I’m very excited to see everybody, it’s going to be a full house and I am excited to see our fans. It will be loud in there and I am excited and ready after a practice or two and some film I feel we will be more prepared for sure.”

A home Derby against an all-star squad with a world class head coach against a Maccabi team that is licking their wounds after another double week sweep and a very, very delicate mental state. Of course, that’s not to say that the Yellow & Blue can’t and won’t win, but the facts are the facts and Katash has a lot of work to do to ensure that his team comes in with the right energy, attitude, aggressiveness and intensity to win.

However, with emotions running high between the two fan bases, it will be interesting to see if those can be kept in check and not create any type of dangerous situations for the supporters, players and other principles in this clash.

The derby is next and everyone understands its importance,” Katash said. “There is a lot of hype around it and we can’t wait to come home to our arena and to be in front of our fans. I hope that the atmosphere will be great but that it will remain in line with that of a basketball game.”
 
Hapoel Tel Aviv did what they needed to and more when they blasted Joventut Badalona 95-70 as one was able to see the effects of their new Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis beginning to make an impact in what was one of their best, if not the best performance of the season. And that was without Johnathan Motley who is getting back into tip-top form and could perhaps play in the Tel Aviv Derby coming up on Sunday night at 9pm.

Itoudis has come in and earned the respect of the players in about one second as they know full well what type of resume the Greek tactician has, winning a pair of Euroleague titles as a head coach and many more as assistant to Zeljko Obradovic. If you listened to what NBA veteran Patrick Beverley said following the game one would think that the he had ever experienced a coach of Itoudis’s level before in his career and he’s had some pretty good coaches along the way,

But the magic touch that Itoudis has, his crystal clear ideas and methodology is very straight, direct and to the point. After the win over Badalona he spoke about how he did not want to be forced to take a timeout in the third quarter when the Reds were struggling and their opponent was going on a good run as he had done the prior week against Ulm. He had used too many timeouts in the game against the German’s which left him without one in the dying seconds and did not have an opportunity to do what he perhaps wanted to in order to possibly come away with the win.

He also spoke about how he was content that the team was able to put in a couple of new plays specifically fro Antonio Blakeney for him to create his own shot. That may pay dividends in the upcoming Derby should the guard be listed or in the EuroCup games as well. Itoudis then credited a number of players individually recognizing their contributions from Yam Madar to Marcus Foster and Beverley.

Itoudis is molding the team nicely and the Derby will be yet another chance for him to put his fingerprints all over the Reds as they will come into Yad Eliyahu ready to rock and roll. However, he will have to see which 5 imports he will play as he explained following the big win over Badalona.

“The coaches are already preparing for the Derby and Maccabi they have a double week in Euroleague. We will put the things down and see what will work for us. We have limitations and restrictions in the domestic league and we will try and make every minute count for us.”

Looks like Hapoel Tel Aviv owner Ofer Yannay has got his man to lead the team to the promised land.

Hapoel Jerusalem was sent back to reality after succumbing to Valencia 96-83 after having been on a 9 game winning streak across all competitions. Prior to the game, Head Coach Yonatan Alon spoke about how this would be a good test to see where his team and after suffering a pretty brutal defeat, they now have an idea of where they are what they will need to do in order to be able to compete with the best of the best.
 
The Reds had come into the contest sporting a 7-2 record good for second place as the capital city squad rolled through the EuroCup as well as the Israeli league knocking off one opponent after the next. In the domestic, Yonatan Alon was named coach of the month while Jared Harper was awarded player of the month as they took 2/3 of the monthly prizes.

In the domestic league their 3-0 record in the month of November saw them beat Hapoel Afula, Hapoel Gilboa Galil and Hapoel Haifa which are not the biggest teams in the country, however, in Europe they really took are of business against the likes of Venezia, Bourg and Turk Telekom which are all teams that are now .500 or better.

Alon’s team is without doubt taking care of business in both competitions but it was clear that a club like Valencia is a much tougher team and one that has played in and out of the Eurolegaue over the past few years and is always competitive in the Spanish ACB League. They are also building a new arena and have already opened up a bribe new training facility so it’s certain that their goal is to make their way back into the Euroleague ASAP.

“It’s not easy to chase and close the gap,” Alon said following the game. “Then they bring on fresh players and we collapsed in that situation. It was too much for us to get there. Honestly the way they play now, no [we can’t compete against Valencia]. But anything can happen in basketball and we want to be there if we have the opportunity so we will keep fighting.” 
 
Jerusalem will have both Austin Wiley and Justin Smith back at some point in the near future and they did a good job by bringing in Derek Ogbeide in their stead who will ultimately provide them with some nice depth. Can Alon’s squad run with the top, top teams in one time? Well as he said, they want to be there if we have the opportunity and that sparks volumes.

“Valencia right now is one of the best team’s in Europe in all competitions, they are doing an amazing job with the combination of players who have been together for some time, hats off.”

As Alon said, right now and that’s the key, right now, but what will be down the road is still unknown and that is when the Reds will really be tested. But right now it’s back to the Israeli league with a Saturday night affair against upstart Hapoel Galil Elyon at 7:20 and the it’s back on the road to their home away from home in Bulgaria when they host Lietkabelis.

Right now Alon is doing what he needs to and the team is winning the game they need to. It will be very interesting to see what will be down the road and that’s something to keep a good eye on.