Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv will tip-off in the Israel State Cup semifinals on Monday (21:00) with the winner heading to Thursday’s final where they will play Bnei Herzliya for the 2022 title. The Yellow & Blue have had a tough go of it this season as they have fallen twice to the city rivals in the Tel Aviv Derby in Israel League play action, however, with everything on the line in a do or die winner take all matchup.

There’s no question that Maccabi will be looking to right the wrongs against Hapoel this season and each team know each other fairly well to say the least after playing twice but as Coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos said at the pregame press conference, “We will be playing for our pride on this game,” there’s no question with the roster of players he registered that will be the case.

Scottie Wilbekin, Keenan Evans and Ante Zizic were all automatics to be part of the club’s 5 imports while newcomer Khyri Thomas has quickly become a fan favorite of Sfairopoulos and as he described him at the postgame presser against CSKA, he’s the “Ace up his sleeve”.

With four of the foreigners solidified it was a toss up between Derrick Williams and Angelo Caloiaro and the bench boss decided to go with the player who he trusted the most and the player who has been with him for the past four seasons in Caloiaro in favor of the hot and cold Williams who has not been up to par for the Yellow & Blue and in fact scored no points in 12 minutes the last time the two clubs faced each other.

Also out of the squad were James Nunnally who has been nursing an ankle injury as well as Jalen Reynolds who will join Williams on the sidelines.

Sfairopoulos knows exactly what he’s going to get from Caloiaro and he’s knows that he can count on him in crunch time which is a spot that the power forward has been in numerous times since becoming a member of the Yellow & Blue. Williams on the other hand has four years of Euroleague experience under his belt but has not played in the competition’s postseason and the coach just didn’t want to take the risk when he has a player like Caloairo who is tried and true battle tested for these types of games.

Now you could say that Khyri Thomas has no business being in the lineup but his addition has been love at first sight for Sfairopoulos who started him in the State Cup quarterfinal game at Hapoel Galil Elyon as well as against CSKA Moscow. The swingman looks to be the piece that was missing from Sfairopoulos’s puzzle and a piece that he has already relied on and entrusted from day one.

“Scoring, rebounding and defense,” Sfairopoulos said when asked about what Thomas brings to the table. “That is why we picked him. I want to thank our scouting department including Nikola (Vujcic) for picking up Khyri.”

“They showed him to me and I didn’t know him well. When we went for him he was injured but we knew what he could give and he is giving us a lot of solutions. He is adjusting but he has moments where he needs to understand as to how we play on offense and on defense. When he will really get into that he will be even much better.”

The ace up the sleeve Thomas will no question be a key factor in the matchup against Hapoel Tel Aviv who have yet to play against Sfairopoulos’s stopper and will certainly be a player of interest for Danny Franco and his squad who will need to find a way to get some of their scorers open.

One of those scorers who will most probably be dogged by Thomas will be fellow NBA Draft Pick James Young who can score from any and every which angle.

Young is coming off a minor knee injury that kept him out of a league game versus Hapoel Beer Sheva but should be raring to go against Maccabi Tel Aviv. However, this time around he will have to contend with Thomas who will want to make his presence felt from the get go as he repays his coach’s faith in him.

As for the center position, Ante Zizic has been by far the club’s superior big man throughout the season and with it all on the line against Hapoel Tel Aviv, Sfairopoulos will go with the Croatian over Jalen Reynolds despite Danny Franco having been able to shut down Zizic the last time the club’s played.

There is no question that Sfairopoulos has done his homework going into the State Cup game against the Reds and that they will treat the matchup just as if it is a Euroleague game. The energy, pride and power will all be present own their home court as they look for payback in what could be the most important game of the three the two clubs have played against each other this campaign.

As they say the third time is a charm but in Israel the slogan is, pa’am shlisheet, glida (“third time, ice cream”).

Ice cream? Why? What? How? Who?

Theer are various versions as to why. Some say it’s an old German phrase, another explanation is that it was a mispronunciation of the English saying “If I see you next time I’ll scream” (I’ll scream sounds like Ice cream), while another thought is that it is from the 1927 song I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream.

One last explanation is that the third time was the Manna that God sent the Children of Israel in the desert as the Manna was described as dak ka’kfor (“as thin as frost”) which in today’s language means, you guessed it, Ice Cream!

Coach Sfairopoulos certainly hopes that the third time will be his charm and a nice ice cream that he will be able to enjoy with a win over Hapoel.