When Roman Sorkin let a corner 3-points fly with 32 seconds left in game four, there was a collective gasp from the entire Yad Eliyahu Arena. The Israeli MVP of this past season’s play had not been up to par for Maccabi Tel Aviv over the course of the previous two games after having finished game 3 with no points and sat on just a measly 4 points in game 4.

Sorkin had struggled to deal with Ish Wainright’s airtight defense but with the score tied at 76-76 and under a minute to go in the game, he unleashed what ended up being the decisive shot of the contest and of the championship series against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Despite having missed his last two chances from deep and was 1/6 from two-point range, Sorkin couldn’t believe what he saw, no one was in front of him and just let it rip.

Wainright was busy at the top caught up with Iffe Lundberg and Tai Odiase was way out of position and by the time he realized he was supposed to be on top of Sorkin, it was too late. The ball had left his hands and found it’s way into the bucket to give Maccabi Tel Aviv a 79-76 advantage and a lead that they would hold onto by the final buzzer sounded to hand the yellow-and-blue a 83-79 win, a 3-1 series victory and their 58th Israeli League Championship.

Sorkin would also put down a quick alley-oop dunk as time would down after his teammates had broken Hapoel’s press to close out the title and that was that or as the Loony Tunes characters would have said, “That’s all folks”.

That was it for the game, the series and the entire season all wrapped in one as Sorkin put the exclamation mark on the win that would now send his team home on vacation, while he’ll be making a quick turnaround to join the Israel National Team for their World Cup qualifiers.

Sorkin had not only been terrific for the entire campaign both in domestic league play and Euroleague action and that carried over into the playoffs through the quarterfinals against Hapoel Beer Sheva, in the semis versus Hapoel Holon and then in the opening two games of the finals. But when Wainright decided to close him down, that’s what he did.

The Hapoel power forward did as he pleased over the course of game three and four against Sorkin as he kept him far, far away from the basket causing missed shots, poorly times shots, shot clock violations, you name it as he put up a goose egg on third game’s stat-sheet and up to the corner 3-pointer just 4 points. Wainright frustrated Sorkin time and time again.

Following Sorkin’s scoreless game three performance, Wainright said the following in the lockerroom, “That’s a team effort right there. Roman’s a great player, aggressive and you can see he wants to shoot the ball, when he subbed back in during the fourth quarter he knew what he wanted to do becaue no one wants to finish with 0 points. We knew he wanted to come out aggressive at the end of the game. But it’s a team effort, it’s not just me.”

Game four was a repeat performance as Katash at one point tried to matchup Zach Hankins when Wainright was out on the court in order to keep Sorkin away from him or at least a tired out version of the big man. However, for the most of 28 minutes on the floor, Wainright was hounding Sorkin to no end.

But, it was Sorkin who kept his confidence up and when it came down to money time, he was there to cash in all of his chips just like a true professional. He was cold blooded and knew what he had to do and what was expected of him, “I owed a lot to my team after the last game and a half. I was too focused on myself and that’s part of the old me, I can’t be like that anymore. People here count on me.”

And count on them they did as he took arguably the biggest shot of the season, when everything was out there on the line. Were there better shooters on the court? Certainly, from Jimmy Clark to John Dibartolomeo and Lundberg and even Oshae Brissett. In reality, Sorkin could have been the last option with a quartet like that beside him.

But instead, he had the confidence of Head Coach Oded Katash, the entire staff and of course all of his teammates, confidence that he earned over the past few seasons, since he was kept on the bench for the entirety of game five in Monaco. He has never been the same player since.

Sorkin raised his level of play to MVP status and is a force to be reckoned with in the Euroleague and the Israeli league. The version of Sorkin May 2023 is long gone. Hard work, drive and desire has made him into the winner that he is today. Add into it unideal situation that Maccabi and everyone in Israel has had to deal with since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 along with the numerous wars with in Iran and what Sorkin has become is in fact extraordinary.

“We moved to Belgrade, came back and there were difficulties along the way, but this is a group of men. I felt like I was letting the guys down and this is a group that truly enjoys being together. This is a group of lions. Everyone here supported each other and wanted it badly. The atmosphere is great. We had a short roster, with only eight players, every few days. We beat Hapoel, which is a tremendous team.”

Sorkin and Maccabi laid it all out there on the line and gave every last ounce of blood, sweat and tears to end the season on a high note by lifting the championship plate. There were no shortcuts and playing with such a short roster was challenging to say the least that should the series had gone to a fifth game, who knows if Maccabi would have had enough in the tank left to close out the title.

But Sorkin was going to have none of that and wrote the final lines of the book that was the 2025/2026 season, one that had its ups and downs across the board for the entire league. Players coming and players going, European games abroad, back at home and then on the road again, the domestic season halted due to the war that broke out at the end of February and went into March and April, a strike by the Israeli players, need there be more.

A campaign that was topsy turvy to say the least but one that ultimately saw Sorkin and Maccabi close out, “It’s great to win a championship after a season like this. It’s sweet. Thank you to the fans, we heard them every minute and I’m sorry about the last game and a half. It was a great battle and credit to everyone. We beat a strong team. Israeli basketball has improved; there are great players on the other side. I’m sure everyone enjoyed watching these games. We’re happy we won.”