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Jerusalem celebrates- Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nEach and every player hoisted the Israel State Cup aloft to the delight of the fans who packed into the Jerusalem Arena to fete their heroes, their gladiators that did battle with Dzikic at the helm and the rest of his soldiers right behind him. <\/p>\n
The players have all fallen right in line behind the Serbian bench boss as he has been able to lead them to the promised land and as he has convinced the players buy into a system that just plain and simple works.<\/p>\n
And work is the key word here because that is what Jerusalem did for all 40 minutes on the floor. They outworked Maccabi in each and every statistical category, but above all they outworked them in all of the intangibles, the things that don\u2019t show up on the scoresheet at the end of the day.
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Zach Hankins and Mareks Mejeris – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nEvery 50\/50 ball, every loose ball, every rebound, every defensive possession, every coaches decision and the list goes on and on. <\/p>\n
That my friends is an absolute checkmate by Dzikic over yellow-and-blue head coach Oded Katash and by every player from 1-12 on Jerusalem\u2019s roster over Maccabi\u2019s. <\/p>\n
On paper, Maccabi Tel Aviv was far superior in the vast majority of talent in almost every position, but in reality, Hapoel Jerusalem showed bigger heart, bigger effort and bigger desire as the were the ones to accept the winners trophy.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, Hapoel Jerusalem just wanted it more.
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Aleksandar Dzikic – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\n\u201cWe had to match the energy, get the rebounds and hold them to scoring less points,\u201d Dzikic said of Maccabi following the game. \u201cThat means bodies, athletes, size and skills. The domestic parts of the team are good and they are national team players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerusalem was able to do just that and more to chalk up the win. <\/p>\n
\u201cCoach always preaches about us our system our defense and we know we can lock everybody down,\u201d big man Zach Hankins who is rumored to be signing an extension with the club said.<\/p>\n
The State Cup MVP Speedy Smith also spoke of Dzikic, \u201dCoach had a game plan and the way he laid it out to us it was constant discussions.\u201d
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Speedy Smith – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nIn fact, Smith is one of those players that Dzikic brought in after having played a short stint in Israel during the Corona-Season with Maccabi Haifa. The point guard has been able to raise the level of his game thanks to the bench boss and was a huge part of this win with 16 points and 9 assists. One teammate after the next labeled Smith as the on court leader of the pack and in effect an extension of Dzikic.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeedy is the leader. Great guy first and foremost and he works hard. He is great,\u201d Jerusalem captain Itay Segev said.
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Speedy Smith – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nOz Blayzer agreed wholeheartedly about the assessment, \u201cSpeedy is the leader. People look at stats but don\u2019t see what Or [Cornelius] did when defending Wade Baldwin and Lorenzo Brown.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith himself credited Cornelius who is also an extension of the coach\u2019s hard nosed approach on the court and epitomizes the Reds style of play, \u201cOr was amazing and with his defensive actions he changed the game a lot tonight.\u201d
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Or Cornelius – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nThis is what a true team is, one for all and all for one with each and every player crediting the other and what Blayzer and Smith said of Cornelius has been true all season long. He has been a key component game in and game out and that is why he is on the Israel National Team for the upcoming window of games. <\/p>\n
His effort and effect was evident time and time again by getting right under Brown and Baldwin\u2019s skin limiting the pair to just a combined 6 of a team total of 9 assists on the game which is as many as Smith had alone.<\/p>\n
Maccabi coach Katash was unable to find an answer to Dzikic\u2019s moves and was one step behind play after play after play. \u201cWe got to the final and played against a team at home, it\u2019s not that we were very big favorites. We knew that there would be pressure on the guards and we have to learn from it and we have to keep our heads up and move on.\u201d
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Wade Baldwin – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nThe pressure caused the yellow-and-blue to choke up the ball time and time again as Baldwin was caught short on the shot clock a couple of times and Jerusalem forced Maccabi into bad shot selection after bad shot selection. I doubt that Katash\u2019s game plan had Jarell Martin and Rafi Menco taking so many shots as the clock neared its end.<\/p>\n
Katash couldn\u2019t figure out a way to get better attempts from his shooters be it John Dibartolomeo or Jake Cohen who didn\u2019t even make his way onto the court. The game plan didn\u2019t work and Katash\u2019s only rabbit out of the hat was 39-year old Guy Pnini ending thrown into the fire when the bench boss saw that nothing was going his way. <\/p>\n
Prior to the game, Dibartolomeo was asked about his legacy and the importance of winning another cup to add to the only one he won as captain against a depleted Maccabi Rishon Le\u2019Zion team a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, that poor record before this final took yet another hit.
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Oz Blayzer – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nAll in all the Israeli contingent for Maccabi scored a grand total of 6 points, the lowest ever in a State Cup final for the yellow-and-blue while a Sabra they had last season on their roster who is now apart of Jerusalem in Oz Blayzer scored 12 points himself in the win. <\/p>\n
\u201cI like these games where everything is at stake. This is why I am here, to fight, battle and win titles. Two to go,\u201d the forward said.<\/p>\n
Former Maccabi and now Hapoel captain Segev was more than satisfied as he collected his thoughts following the game in the lockerroom, \u201cMy first time lifting the trophy with this team as captain and I\u2019m hoping for many more. I think we take advantage of our strengths and we want to be the team who concedes less. Maccabi are more talented but we battled. We came ready to the State Cup games. We showed our strong side and while it was hard fight in the semi finals, at the end we got the title.\u201d
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Zach Hankins and Itay Segev – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nHankins was thrilled for Segev having the opportunity to win the title, \u201cItay has had to take a role some guys don\u2019t like taking but each time he is on the floor he gives his all. I am so proud of him. The way he can play defense. He does change the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youngster Noam Yaacov who was a key part of the Reds semifinal win over Hapoel Haifa was overwhelmed to have won a Cup with his father present so early on in his career after being loaned out by Villeurbanne to Jerusalem, \u201cThis is why I am here. My dad is always with me no matter what. He is always behind me pushing me forward. He came for the cup week and I am really happy he did.\u201d
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Noam Yaacov and his father Yonatan – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nTogether with Yonatan Alon, Yotam Halperin and the rest of the Jerusalem staff, it\u2019s been one winning move after the next as Dzikic has conducted the orchestra to perfection. Does winning the State Cup mean that they can win a final series? The bench boss is not certain, but regardless, what the Reds have done is show everyone in Israel that the club has the know how to win when it comes down to crunch time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey [Maccabi] are a great team, as is Hapoel Tel Aviv,\u201d Dzikic said. \u201cWe still don\u2019t understand and are trying to process what happened. In a series it\u2019s tougher, but in a forty minute game it\u2019s easier and maybe we don\u2019t win this same game if played tomorrow.\u201d
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Zach Hankins – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div>
\nWith tomorrow already on the horizon, Hankins, who made it clear that he would like to stay with Jerusalem going forward, knows that while they won the State Cup title they have a huge league game coming up on Sunday night against Hapoel Holon who will be looking for revenge after a devastating Basketball Champions League loss. After a big high, it\u2019s very easy to slip and the center knows that first hand having experienced it earlier in the season. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is amazing energy here, I love it here and I love this is coach. I would not mind staying here not one bit. We had struggles and coach will do everything to hold us to that standard. It feels amazing to win and it shows what we are capable of. We showed that we can be the best team in Israel but we need to consistently show it. They can keep underestimating us but we beat Maccabi every time this season. We are a family and we can keep going up. If you look at the last time we beat Maccabi having that dip after taught us an important lesson. <\/p>\n
For Smith, the guard just keeps wanting to win games when it counts with one title in the bag with the BCL and Israeli league still to go, \u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable but it\u2019s only a small taste of the biggest one. One out of three, two more.\u201d
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Hapoel Jerusalem lifts the State Cup – Photo Credit: Dov Halickman<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s all about being a \u201cteam\u201d and that is what Hapoel Jerusalem has preached since the summer time when Aleksandar Dzikic was named as the team\u2019s head coach. Team, team, team, team. There are no individual stars, not one player that is above anyone else. But lots of parts that once put together come together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":79965,"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":[96,4,1789,1772],"class_list":["post-79962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-hapoel-jerusalem","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","tag-speedy-smith","tag-zach-hankins","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n