{"id":138272,"date":"2025-04-13T18:24:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T18:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=138272"},"modified":"2025-04-13T18:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T18:24:05","slug":"hapoel-tel-aviv-eurocup-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/hapoel-tel-aviv-eurocup-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"Hapoel Tel Aviv EuroCup Champions!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hapoel Tel Aviv captured the EuroCup title, defeating Gran Canaria 103-94 and sweeping the best-of-3 finals series 2-0 to hand the Reds the continental championship as well as a place in next season\u2019s Euroleague. It was Hapoel\u2019s game right from the get go as the Israeli team shot lights out from deep going an incredible 15\/26 (57.7%) from beyond the 3-point arc, setting a EuroCup finals record while Antonio Blakeney and MVP Johnathan Motley proved to be unstoppable for the entire contest. <\/p>\n

The Reds got off to a quick start and grabbed a 29-21 lead after ten minutes of action but the hosts rattled off a 13-0 run in the second quarter to cut down the gap, however more points from Blakeney gave Hapoel a 53-44 advantage at halftime. Motley along with Yam Madar and Tomer Ginat together with Blakeney continued to score at will to begin the second half as Gran Canaria had no answers to slowdown Head Coach Dimitrios Itoudis\u2019s team as they went on to cruise to the title.
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Photo credit: Hapoel Tel Aviv<\/p><\/div>
\nFor Itoudis, he joins an exclusive list of coaches who have won both the Euroleague and EuroCup which includes David Blatt, Ergin Ataman and Dusan Ivkovic. <\/p>\n

Blakeney scored 27 points, Motley added 26 points and Madar scored 16 points in the win. George Conditt scored 18 points while both Joe Thomasson and John Shurna each scored 14 points in the loss.
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Photo credit: Hapoel Tel Aviv<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cWe feel amazing,\u201d Itoudis began. \u201cProud and great because we made so many people proud here. This team is writing history, 15 players won a European title for the first time. Hapoel showed its strength and we also played great basketball. I talked to a lot of colleagues who said they enjoyed our games too. We had rhythm, we score and defend and play with a lot of pride and a good game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to my entire team, especially Coach Stefanos Dadas who started this season with general manager George Hinas. The doctors did an amazing owner Ofer Yannay, he brought the motto and the vision, all his passion and desire to constantly improve Hapoel is something else,\u201d he added.
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Photo credit: Hapoel Tel Aviv<\/p><\/div>
\nThe MVP Johnathan Motley also spoke about the championship, \u201cI was very confident in my team. We worked real hard, we have a great locker room, everybody trusts each other, so right now I\u2019m calm. I\u2019m just glad we got it done. I envisaged myself doing the trophy thing all week. It\u2019s just crazy that I\u2019m in it right now. I\u2019m just out of body right now, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonio Blakeney added, \u201cIt feels great. Obviously winning is the main thing, but we won this way and it feels great. We stayed together. We’ve got a team right now where everyone likes each other, everyone knows each other’s game, so it’s easy to play well like that. I’m always a confident guy, but definitely that boosted my confidence [his big quarter against Valencia], and my teammates really keep me confident. Whether I’m missing or making, they always motivate me.\u201d
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Photo credit: Hapoel Tel Aviv<\/p><\/div>
\nYam Madar also shared his thoughts on the win, \u201cFor sure, that was the goal from the beginning when I arrived at Hapoel: to make it to the Euroleague.\u00a0The road was very difficult.\u00a0We’ve been through a lot. We didn’t play so good at the beginning. To see how everything and how the journey summed up to a point\u00a0where we actually made it after 2-0, playing great basketball,\u00a0being together, everyone happy for each other.\u00a0Behind us is an unbelievable community that was waiting for a title for 52 years.\u00a0To bring them a title after 52 years is something unbelievable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the guys over here and we have so many others in Israel watching us.\u00a0We’re just happy for them. I just tried to do whatever I can to bring this team to the EuroLeague. It is 100% [special].\u00a0I know that by playing I’m risking my career, my knee.\u00a0But it was a no-brainer for me to come and just to do whatever I can\u00a0just to try to help this team win. I am just happy, a lot of teammates came over here tonight and played great.\u00a0It’s a really special group.\u201d
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Photo credit: Hapoel Tel Aviv<\/p><\/div>
\nTomer Ginat went from deep to get the game underway while Motley put in a 3-point play and Madar drilled home a pair of tripes to give Hapoel a quick 14-4 lead while more points from Blakeney and yet another Madar 3-pointer gave the Reds a 29-21 lead after ten minutes of play. Noam Yaacov and Marcus Foster dialed up from long distance for the reds while Andrew Albicy paced the hosts to a 13-0 run but the duo of Motley and Madar sent Itoudis\u2019s team into halftime with a 53-44 advantage. <\/p>\n

Thomasson came out of halftime on fire with a pair from deep while Nicolas Brussino also went from downtown but Blakeney nailed a pair from beyond the arc at the other end while Motley and Madar bumped the lead up to 86-74 after 30 minutes of action. Bruno Caboclo opened the final frame with a 3-pointer and added a deuce in the paint while Blakeney continued to hit his shots to send the Reds to the well deserved victory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hapoel Tel Aviv captured the EuroCup title, defeating Gran Canaria 103-94 and sweeping the best-of-3 finals series 2-0 to hand the Reds the continental championship as well as a place in next season\u2019s Euroleague. It was Hapoel\u2019s game right from the get go as the Israeli team shot lights out from deep going an incredible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":138251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-138272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hapoel-tel-aviv","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nHapoel Tel Aviv EuroCup Champions! - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/hapoel-tel-aviv-eurocup-champions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hapoel Tel Aviv EuroCup Champions! - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hapoel Tel Aviv captured the EuroCup title, defeating Gran Canaria 103-94 and sweeping the best-of-3 finals series 2-0 to hand the Reds the continental championship as well as a place in next season\u2019s Euroleague. 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