{"id":153496,"date":"2025-08-29T09:09:58","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/?p=153496"},"modified":"2025-08-29T09:09:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:09:58","slug":"romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Romantic: How rare was Sorkin\u2019s performance and what should Israel be wary of?"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Luka, Lloyd, Giannis, Roman<\/h2>\n

The scoring leaderboard after the first round of EuroBasket is one worth filing, pinning up, or at least saving:<\/p>\n

Luka Don\u010di\u0107 \u2013 34 points
\nJordan Loyd \u2013 32
\nGiannis Antetokounmpo \u2013 31
\nRoman Sorkin \u2013 31
\n

\"\"

Roman Sorkin – Photo credit: FIBA<\/p><\/div>
\nBeyond the fact that the Israeli representative is the only one on the list who has never played in the NBA, he was actually the most versatile in the way he earned his points.<\/p>\n

Half of Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s total came from the free-throw line and he went just 3\/9 from 3-point lane; Loyd caught fire from deep, hitting 7 of 8 from beyond the arc, but only shot 33% on two-pointers; Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t take a single shot from outside.<\/p>\n

And Sorkin? Let\u2019s pause for a moment and take a deeper look at the blue-and-white big man.<\/p>\n

He went 9\/12 from two (75%). Eight of those came from inside the paint and one from mid-range. He shot 4\/7 from three (57%). For comparison, the rest of Israel combined for 3\/17 from downtown.<\/p>\n

He scored 8 points in the first quarter, 2 in the second, 11 in the third and another 10 in the fourth.<\/p>\n

Even from a historical perspective, this wasn\u2019t just a personal national-team career high for Sorkin.<\/p>\n

Looking up into the stands at the Katowice arena, he probably spotted Lior Eliyahu the last Israeli to score 30+ points in a EuroBasket game back in 2009 (31 against Croatia).
\n

\"\"

Lior Eliyahu – Photo Credit: FIBA<\/p><\/div>
\nAnd when he rejoins Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s training later this month, he\u2019ll be reunited with his coach Oded Katash who was the last Israeli to score 30+ in a EuroBasket win (34 against France in 1997).<\/p>\n

At the time, Sorkin was a 10-month-old baby.
\n

\"\"

Roma Sorkin and Deni Avdija – Photo credit: FIBA<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

2. When Avdija\u2019s 3\u2019s Start Falling<\/h2>\n

Sure, we need to keep things in perspective. It was just Iceland. The level of competition is going to ramp up in the coming days. Things will get tougher.<\/p>\n

But still, Israel has stumbled over teams like \u201cIceland\u201d before in previous EuroBaskets, often barely escaping, or not at all. Think back to Great Britain, who beat the blue-and-white in the 2013 opener.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day Sorkin didn\u2019t do it alone.<\/p>\n

Avdija controlled the game, showed leadership and scored 20 points of his own, with impressive efficiency: 5\/7 from two, 10\/12 from the charity stripe.<\/p>\n

Just imagine the day when he starts hitting 3\u2019s, instead of going 0\/5 like yesterday and you\u2019ll realize how easily he could flirt with 30-point games.
\n\"\"
\nThat is, if it happens. Given he\u2019s just 2\/31 from deep since joining the national team this summer so nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Still, the Avdija\u2013Sorkin duo combined for 51 points.<\/p>\n

The good news: only one pair in Europe scored more in the past two days (55).<\/p>\n

The bad news: that same duo of Loyd and Mateusz Ponitka is who Israel will face on Saturday night.
\n

\"\"

Ariel Beit Halachmi – Photo credit: FIBA<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

3. There\u2019s always got to be two<\/h2>\n

The challenge for coach Ariel Beit-Halahmy lies in his team\u2019s depth.<\/p>\n

His starting five was the strongest unit as they were the ones responsible for the brief but decisive third-quarter surge: a 15-2 run in three minutes, flipping a tight 36-32 halftime lead into a comfortable 51-34 advantage.<\/p>\n

But the gap between the starters and the so-called second unit is vast. Too vast.<\/p>\n

This can be seen clearly in the players\u2019 plus-minus stats:
\n+23 for Avdija, +18 for Yam Madar, +14 for Tomer Ginat (who added 6 rebounds and 6 assists), and +12 each for Sorkin and Yovel Zoosman.<\/p>\n

And the bench?
\nGuy Palatin managed a respectable +8 somehow, but the rest, from Itay Segev\u2019s +3 (at best) to Khadeen Carrington\u2019s dismal -13, week they weren\u2019t even close.
\n

\"\"

Yam Madar – Photo credit: FIBA<\/p><\/div>
\nThe not-so-surprising over-reliance on Madar, the only true point guard on the roster, was clear to see.<\/p>\n

In the first half, Israel outscored Iceland 25-16 with him on the floor.<\/p>\n

When he rested, they were outscored 16-11.<\/p>\n

And beyond questions about how Beit-Halachmi chose to build this roster, it was hard to understand some of his lineup decisions.
\n

\"\"

Roman Sorkin – Photo credit: FIBA<\/p><\/div>
\nYes, it makes sense to want all your big guns on the floor to start.<\/p>\n

But given the shallow bench especially in terms of scoring the rotation needs a rethink.<\/p>\n

He must ensure at least two scorers are on the court at all times.<\/p>\n

In other words, always have at least two of the three, Madar, Avdija, Sorkin playing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Luka, Lloyd, Giannis, Roman The scoring leaderboard after the first round of EuroBasket is one worth filing, pinning up, or at least saving: Luka Don\u010di\u0107 \u2013 34 points Jordan Loyd \u2013 32 Giannis Antetokounmpo \u2013 31 Roman Sorkin \u2013 31 Beyond the fact that the Israeli representative is the only one on the list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":153435,"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":[9],"tags":[29,81],"class_list":["post-153496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-israel","tag-roman-sorkin","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nRomantic: How rare was Sorkin\u2019s performance and what should Israel be wary of? - 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\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Romantic: How rare was Sorkin\u2019s performance and what should Israel be wary of? - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1. Luka, Lloyd, Giannis, Roman The scoring leaderboard after the first round of EuroBasket is one worth filing, pinning up, or at least saving: Luka Don\u010di\u0107 \u2013 34 points Jordan Loyd \u2013 32 Giannis Antetokounmpo \u2013 31 Roman Sorkin \u2013 31 Beyond the fact that the Israeli representative is the only one on the list […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-29T09:09:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Image-30.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1021\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arale Weisberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arale Weisberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arale Weisberg\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3d660da5ec216716a6880eed48e846b8\"},\"headline\":\"Romantic: How rare was Sorkin\u2019s performance and what should Israel be wary of?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-29T09:09:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":797,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Image-30.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"israel\",\"Roman Sorkin\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Holyland Hoops\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/romantic-how-rare-was-sorkins-performance-and-what-should-israel-be-wary-of\\\/\",\"name\":\"Romantic: How rare was Sorkin\u2019s performance and what should Israel be wary of? 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