The Israel Basketball League playoffs get underway on Friday afternoon as the top eight teams in the competition will vie for hoops supremacy in the Holy Land. There are plenty of enticing storylines as the postseason begins with Hapoel Tel Aviv looking to win their first league title in more than 50 years. However, they will not be alone as the reining champions Maccabi Tel Aviv will try and hold onto their crown and three-peat, while Hapoel Jerusalem can also make some serious noise after a superb addition to their roster.

The top seed Maccabi Tel Aviv enters their series with Nes Ziona as a heavy favorite against the 8th place team and will look to sweep their way into the semifinals, anything less would be a shock. However, Amit Sherf’s side will come in prepared to surprise the yellow-and-blue and will be primed to see how they can matchup to the Euroleague squad.

Oded Katash’s Maccabi have not only a loaded roster but one that is very deep as well with plenty of both Israelis and imports to round out their squad. Jaylen Hoard is back from injury and will be an issue in the paint for Nes Ziona while big man Trevion Williams will also use his strength to cause problems down low as will Roman Sorkin. Rokas Jokubaitis has shown that he can be a star and a lead guard after helping Maccabi win the Israel State Cup back in February but question marks in the backcourt due to injuries to Tamir Blatt and Jimmy Clark may be of concern. Just before the signing deadline Maccabi also added veteran Israeli center Alex Tyus for his third term with the club along with Nathan Mensah from Olympiacos as a backup.

Over on Nes Ziona, Bryce Brown is the motor that makes his team run as the Auburn guard has been a superstar all season long and won the league’s scoring title. Brown will try and use his scoring ability to light a fire under Nes Ziona and try and push Maccabi on the heels with his slicing and dicing as well as his swishing and dishing. Jake Van Tubbergen and Yair Kravits can help on the attack and Ricky Lindo has been excellent on the inside and can shoot it from the outside. But the real question mark is can center Itay Segev can play or not. The Israeli veteran missed the two Play In games due to a bad back and if he is out that means most probably guard Darnell Edge won’t play as Jerome Meyinsse will need to dress and Sherf will need to rely on the diminutive Alon Drucker who is in his first season in the top league.

Hapoel Tel Aviv is flying high and will take on Hapoel Gilboa Galil as the Reds will look to continue their fine play after having won the EuroCup which punched their ticket to next season’s Euroleague competition. However, Sharon Avrahami will try his best to use his squad to cause as much problems as possible in the best-of-5 series.

The Reds one superstar on their roster after the next which gives bench boss Dimitrios Itoudis plenty of headaches as he needs to figure out which imports to list and which Israelis will play as well as how he can split up the minutes appropriately to in order to give his team the best chance to win. From Johnathan Motley and Bruno Caboclo to Antonio Blakeney and Marcus Foster and from Marcus Bingham and Ish Wainright to Tomer Ginat and Bar Timor, it’s one stellar player after the next. There is nary a weakness as each player has a worthy backup in case there is an injury or a change needs to be made.

Gilboa does a have very good squad that can run a solid 9-man deep which will without question look to challenge the EuroCup holders. Arguably the best Israeli this season in Gur Lavy has been a star for Avrahami’s team while Elijah Childs, Paul Scruggs, Niv Misgav and Ish El-Amin can all create some noise but most importantly Josh Price has been able to step into Ben Moore’s big shoes and fill them very, very nicely. Can Gilboa steal a game, well that remains to be seen, but Avrahami will without question make sure to have his players primed and ready to go.

Hapoel Jerusalem will play Maccabi Ramat Gan in what will be a series that will have a very interesting storyline running through it. Israeli guard Roi Huber was traded by Ramat Gan to the reds for Noam Dovrat and cash just a few days prior to the deadline a couple of weeks ago in a move that made a lot of noise throughout the Israeli basketball world. Huber, is known as one of the best Israeli point guards and for Shmulik Brenner’s team to trade him just ahead of the playoffs was looked at as a very unsportsmanlike move. It’s true that Ramat Gan could have lost Huber over the summer as he is a free agent and in essence the club could be left with nothing. However, it was in poor taste to see such a move just as the playoffs were about to open and on top of that for Huber to go to their direct quarterfinal opponent.

With that, Jerusalem still has a very strong roster that they have been trying to see reach its potential all season long. From EuroCup MVP Jared Harper to his fomer Auburn teammate Austin Wiley, Head Coach Yonatan Alon also has plenty of firepower from Israelis Khadeen Carrington and Yovel Zoosman to Justin Smith and Jeremy Morgan. The club recently welcomed back Nimrod Levi into the fold who had been injured all season long and the Israeli forward has been fantastic since hitting the floor last month. All in all Jerusalem is going to be a very tough and competitive team in these playoffs.

Ramat Gan not only lost Huber but will be without star forward Amin Stevens who is out with an injury. Brenner’s team brought in KeyShawn Feazell as a replacement for Stevens and his squad also features the likes of marksman Adam Ariel, Kendale McCullum, Isaiah Miles and Luther Muhammad. However, Dovrat will need to step up and play a leading role which was not something he had done this season with Jerusalem and will now be tested to see if he had made it all the way back from a pair of tough injuries.

Bnei Herzliya and Hapoel Holon will be a very tough series to call as both teams have some challenges to manage. Just before the signing deadline, Yehu Orland’s Herzliya brought in their former star center and league MVP Chinanu Onuaku after an injury to Chris Silva will keep the big man out of the postseason.

In addition, star swingman Xavier Sneed will be back from an injury which means that Herzliya will need to figure out which of their seven available imports will not be dressed. Elijah Stewart and Markel Johnson both recently joined the team while John Meeks, Josh Hawley and Daeshon Francis are all capable of helping Orland’s team win their quarterfinal series but only five can be listed. On the Israeli side, Ethan Burg has proved to be a true gunner for the team, Frederic Bourdillon always hits the big shot and Alon Michaeli has been able to spell some of the foreign big men. With that, Herzliya will need to find the right formula to win the series against a purples team that has had plenty of ups and downs this campaign.

Guy Kaplan took over Holon from Guy Goodes a few months ago and has seen his team and its inconsistencies game in and game out as he has tried to find a way to level the ship. The purples have plenty of talent from sharpshooter Mike Davis, big man Justin Alston and point guard DJ Cooper but also have a number of new players in Jordan Hall and Shachar Amir who need to find their place. Iftach Ziv has played extremely well of late and Netanel Artzi has also taken the bull by the horns as the team captain but the club needs more out of Michale Kyser and Dakarai Tucker if they are to beat Herzliya. The looming question over Holon is also the status of center Idan Zalmanson who was hurt a few weeks ago and it remains to be seen if he will be able to suit up for the quarterfinals.