Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv will tip-off their semifinal series on Wednesday at the PAIS Arena in the capital city (21:00) as both sides will vie to punch their ticket to they finals in the best-of-3 tilt.

The last time the two squads played one another in a playoff series was back in 2016 when they met in the quarterfinals in what was an unforgettable five game series that Jerusalem won 3-2.

The stage was set early on in game one as Nate Robinson was unstoppable for Hapoel Tel Aviv. The 3x NBA Slam Dunk Champion joined the Reds in March which was just in time for the former New York Knicks guard to get into the Israeli league action ahead of the postseason.

Hapoel Tel Aviv and Robinson, who were coached by Sharon Avrahami sliced and diced the Jerusalem defense to the tune of 46 points and his incredible shot at the end of regulation sent the contest into overtime all knotted up at 86-86. Robinson led off the extra session with a triple but it would be Eli Holman who would go on to score the winner to take game one 97-95.

Game two shifted over to the Drive In Arena in Tel Aviv and was no less thrilling as Raviv Limonad and Donta Smith went back and forth throughout the 40 minutes, but it would be the former who would score with just two seconds left to even up the series at 1-1.

Danny Franco’s squad came out flying back at home in game three and grabbed an early 27-10 lead and never looked back as five players finished the clash in double figures with captain Yotam Halperin leading the with 19 points in a 90-73 win.

But it would be Nate Robinson who would once again lead the way in game four with 25 points to once again knot the series up at 2-2 with a 94-84 victory to set up a decisive game five in the capital.

With a trip to the finals at stake, Avrahami’s crew surprised Jerusalem as Robinson once again was in the midst of all of the action to help Tel Aviv jump out to a 35-23 lead after ten minutes of play. But Smith and Tony Gaffney led Jerusalem on a 13-1 run to head into half-time down by just 6-points, 46-40.

The duo continued to score and cut the advantage down even further as Franco’s squad headed into the final frame just 3-points away from Tel Aviv 64-61. Robinson and Limonad for the visitors and Smith and EJ Rowland ket going back and forth as the game was tied up at 73-73 with just three minutes to go.

With the fans going absolutely bonkers, a free throw shooting contest broke out between the teams but after Robinson only went 1/2 and Jerusalem held a 79-78 lead, Smith snatched a huge board scored immediately and drew a foul on Matan Naor, his 5th of the game but the Jerusalem star missed the free throw which led to Robert Rothbart tying the game right back up at 82-82 with a minute to go.

After a lone free throw by Smith, who else but Robinson hit yet another huge shot to give Tel Aviv the lead but Rowland hit a pair from the charity stripe to put Jerusalem back in front 85-82 with just 22 seconds left. Following a Rothbart miss, Smith grabbed the rebound, hit the front end from the line and missed the second on purpose as the clock ran out to send Jerusalem into the semifinals.

Smith scored 33 points while Robinson checked in with 22 points as the guard’s time in the Holy Land came to an end.

To revisit the series clash ahead of the two teams taking to the court once again to do battle, The Sports Rabbi heard from some of the stars as they looked back on what was arguably the best and most memorable playoff series.

“It was a crazy series,” Euroleague floor general Tamir Blatt, who at the time was a very young guard for Hapoel Tel Aviv said. “Nate was one of the most talented one-on-one players that I have ever seen in my career up until now.”

Jerusalem veteran EJ Rowland also chimed in, “Crazy series. They played us tough every game that season if I remember correctly. Then they added Nate late in the season for extra firepower. Their team was far better more dangerous than their seeding suggested. Nate’s game one in Jerusalem might be top 5 greatest individual scoring performances I’ve seen live. The whole series was physical and chippy. Plus, the atmosphere in both arenas was amazing.”

Demitrius Conger who plied his trade with Hapoel Tel Aviv recounted his memories from teh series, “I remember the shot they hit at home to give them the win thinking we had that game in the bag. I also remember Nate having that crazy game thinking we are going to win this series if he can do it again. I also believe if we could got past them we would have won the championship that year.”

Veteran sharpshooter Tre Simmons who helped begin over Robinson to the Holy Land was a part of Avrahami’s team and didn’t hold back on some of his thoughts from the encounter, “It was probably one of the best series I’ve been apart of. Although we lost that series we should’ve have won it. Me bringing Nate brought Hapoel a lot of excitement and experience for them to meet him and see him play in person. I wish they would have brought both of us back!”

Dor Wachner who was just 17-years old at the time, cherished the chance he had to be a part of the series, “It was an amazing experience to be on the same team as Nate Robinson. First off, he scored 46 points in the first game in the Jerusalem Arena which was perhaps the greatest performance that I saw any player have live.”

“I also recall another game where Raviv Limonad was incredible with a game wining basket right through Tony Gaffney’s hands. One thing grater for sure many people don’t know is that the foreign players loved bowling and we went to play at least once a week. When Nate left he left everything here for us including his shoes and tons of other things.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv head coach Sharon Avrahami took a deep dive back into the series including a couple of terrific stories, “We had an incredible series that people are still talking about today. The first game in Jerusalem was close. The first game where Nate scored 46 points was crazy, the arena was packed with more than 10K-11K fans at every game. That may have been the best team Jerusalem has ever had but our players felt that we could tale the series. We won both of our home games.”

“There was a story about Nate in the lockerroom just before game 5. He had been warming up and then he disappeared. we looked all over for him and no one knew what had happened to him. During the player instructions it turned out that he was on the phone talking to his girlfriend just two minutes before the game was abut to start. He finally got onto the floor and was great.”

Avrahami also spoke about the final chance that Hapoel had to win the series, “There was also an issue with the last possession at the end of game 5 in what was just a 1-point difference. Nate had the ball and instead of taking it to the hoop he passed it to Tre Simmons who sent it to Robert Rothbart who missed from the high post which is a spot where he usually scored from. But he missed it and that cost us a trip to the Final Four and perhaps the championship. There are a lot of great memories from that series that the Hapoel Tel Aviv fans still remember to this day.”