This is a game that will be broadcast on Gold.

That’s how Hapoel Tel Aviv head coach Danny Franco described his club’s instant classic 109-100 victory over Hapoel Jerusalem that will no doubt go down in the annals of Israeli basketball history as one of the great games of this season.

This contest between the two Reds teams had it all. From big time shots, massive dunks, ejections, controversy, drama as well as clutch playa, where the improbable and impossible graced the Drive In Arena court for 40 minutes of end-to-end jam packed action.

Hapoel Tel Aviv came into the game without four of their mainstays, Tomer Ginat, Braian Angola, Jaylen Hoard and J’Covan Brown who were all suffering from a variety of injuries while Hapoel Jerusalem was without their head coach Aleksanadar Dzikic who stayed in Serbia due to personal reasons.

Add into the mix referee Omer Esteroen who is known for getting excessively involved in a big game and the stage was set.

Hapoel Tel Aviv came out strong, Hapoe Jerusalem started hitting their shots and heading into halftime with the capital city reds ahead 56-47, it looked as if they would stay in front and cruise to the victory against a team that was playing extremely shorthanded.

That of course was only if the game was too be played on paper and not on the basketball floor.

Franco’s team returned to the roar of the crowd and got close but couldn’t find a way to get over the top until their head coach decided he had seen enough and sent a shock to the system by getting ejected and seeing the exit.

“I’m happy that Omer [Esteroen] ejected me when he did because he was able to make the change in the game that was needed to get us over the hump,” the EuroCup bench boss said during the post game press conference.

But that wouldn’t be the only time that the referees would involve themselves a bit too much in the game as Chris Johnson was issued a technical for celebrating and was eventually shown the door in the 4th quarter while Speedy Smith was also ejected late in the game to the dismay of the Jerusalem brass. Club officials said that Hapoel Tel Aviv captain Bar Timor got on Estoroen as the teams went to the lockerrooms at halftime and that caused some of the chaos that ensued and saw calls going the wrong way for Jerusalem thereafter.

It’s never easy to officiate a game at a filled to the rafters Drive In and that was certainly the case on this night, but the bottom line is the referees weren’t the ones who decided the game it was the players and the lack of Jerusalem’s head coach not being with them.

Dzikic, who remained in Serbia would have never, ever seen his team give up 109 points if he was on the sidelines and who knows what his reaction was if he was watching the game on TV.

However, Zach Hankins didn’t think that Dzikic’s absence was the reason for their shoddy defense, “Not really, he’s an amazing coach and he gets the best out of us and we miss him. Theo [Giannakopoulos and Shai [Olererczyk] came up huge with the game plan. But when you get one practice to focus on one team it takes time and we haven’t been used to that type of communication really well. We hadn’t played in a loud arena and we know it was hard to do when we haven’t done it in a while.”

Giannakopoulos who was manning the sidelines drew the ire of Franco due to the fact that according to the letter of the “sports law” as a foreigner who did not have the appropriate experience, he would not qualify to be allowed to run Jerusalem’s show. Regardless, he also knows that his team didn’t come out with the right mentality in the second and while he would not say it as well, Dzikic’s shadow was missing.

“We started losing control when the second half started. We were totally passive with zero intensity and we allowed them to get back into the game. Our offensive plan was good but we didn’t have control on the defensive end.”

While Hapoel Jerusalem will be playing plenty of league games now back in Israel due to the break that they have in Basketball Champions League after clinching a place in the Round of 16 group stage which only gets underway at the end of January, Hapoel Tel Aviv is already back in Belgrade where they will ready for their EuroCup clash against Hamburg.

With injuries galore Franco’s team signed a pair of players to hopefully pick up some of that load in Will Cummings and Dez Wells but he is also aware that both are not going to be able to pick up the slack for the bigger guys in Jaylen Hoard and Tomer Ginat. Nonetheless, credit must go to management for making moves right away in order to give the Reds the best chance to win and both Franco as well as Xavier Munford aren’t taking that for granted as they look to claim every available title.

“I was afraid of the amount of time the guys were going to play and we didn’t have a lot of depth so we are adding players to help us continue on,” Franco commented. “We are a great team but we need a little but more as we are getting two players in Dez and Will who will help fill some of those voids.”

“From day one winning has been everyone’s mindset,” Munford said. “That why our belief in the team is 100%. I know these guys [Will and Dez] well and they can help push us to the next level when the other guys are out. We have been going through a lot and management has brought in some high quality guys who we will get integrated into the team really quickly.”

There is no doubt that Hapoel Tel Aviv has been going through a lot but that has been the key to their success explained Munford, “That’s given us the edge, the adversity that has motivated us, what we are facing, travel, injured guys and that is the motivation and the drive right there.”