Hapoel Tel Aviv was eliminated from European play last week in brutal fashion after holding an 18-point halftime lead over eventual winner Besiktas, which sent the Reds packing from the EuroCup at the quarterfinal stage.
After such a defeat, it was only natural to see what type of effect the loss would have on Danny Franco and his squad as they headed back home to Israeli league action with both the championship and State Cup still in play between March and June.
Would they be able to come out and perform at the high level they have been all season long? Would there be some sort of head-hanging and depression after such a tough defeat?
The Reds answered those questions in a resounding fashion, as clear and concise as possible. Tel Aviv’s 91-64 drubbing of host Hapoel Jerusalem over the weekend in the capital was basically an announcement that “we are going to put every ounce of effort into the upcoming months with the goal of winning the two remaining available titles.”
With well over 1,000 traveling fans, Franco’s charges kept the game close over the opening 10 minutes, began making their mark in the second quarter, and took a slim 37-33 lead at halftime. This led to a tremendous 26-11 third period that was followed up by a final frame that was garbage time galore. Game, Set, Match.
In some aspects, it was absolutely stunning how Hapoel Tel Aviv was able to come out of halftime and do as it pleased against a Jerusalem team playing on its home court that folded like a cheap suit in a third quarter that the players, staff, and fans would like to forget quickly.
While Franco was able to work on his squad with an emphasis on the mental aspect after their EuroCup ousting, Jerusalem coach Ilias Kantzouris was unable to recover from a listless Basketball Champions League round-of-16 Group Stage defeat at the hands of Peristeri. That loss, coupled with a 2-6 record in Israeli league play since the start of February, shows just how much the Capital City Reds are struggling under their new bench boss ahead of a huge final continental matchup coming up this week that could leave the team looking from the outside come the postseason.
As the Jerusalem fans booed the Greek tactician off of the floor after the game, it was clear that there was no love affair between the supporters and coach, which should come as no surprise after the string of disheartening results. “Fans are fans, and they love our team,” Kantzouris said. “They have the right to react how they feel, while my job is inside the four lines to protect the players and club.”
Franco works his magic 'to perfection'
Returning back to Hapoel Tel Aviv and how Franco worked his magic to perfection. First off, there’s no question that he has excelled at the mental side of the game since the devastating European defeat and that, despite some pretty hard feelings immediately after the loss, everyone from top to bottom was able to put their egos aside.
This is likely due to Franco's veteran Israeli players on his roster, Tomer Ginat and Bar Timor, who were able to calm the waters with the foreigners. That is a fact that can’t be taken lightly. Very few teams have a pair of Sabras with the stature of Ginat and Timor, and there’s no question that their voices hold a lot of weight among the team.
"We didn't meet our goal in Europe. It was tough after going up by so many points and losing the lead."
Bar Timor, Israeli Basketball Player
“We didn’t meet our goal in Europe,” Timor said. “It was tough after going up by so many points and losing the lead. We really had to reflect on it, which was a very tough point for us as players and for the staff and management.”
“I manage the players, and I am responsible for the good and for the bad,” Franco said. “We have two titles that we will be battling for. Unfortunately, we only got so far in Europe. I have to give credit to the entire management team and ownership, who knew how to give us some quiet after the loss and give us confidence.
We received so much support from so many different places that we knew we would come in here and fight. It was tough to just show up with one practice before the game, but the work was all in the players’ heads. The mental side is always important; we lost J’Covan Brown in the first half in Lithuania, and we don’t really know when he will be back, and I am happy that the guys knew how to respond here in Jerusalem.”
Second, Franco was able to bring on a fresh Dusty Hannahs, who was unable to play in the EuroCup loss because he had signed with Hapoel after the signing window was shut. Hannahs, who is known to be a stellar shooter, did not have the baggage that any of the other players had after the loss to Besiktas. The sharpshooter, who is also a naturalized Israeli, was just what the doctor ordered for Franco and company as he came off the bench and went 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from two-point range, good for 23 points.
Hannahs provided that extra offense that Hapoel Tel Aviv clearly needed, as only Kyle Alexander and John Holland were able to find the basket early on in the game and were the only reason that the visitors stayed afloat until Hannahs and Timor began to hit their shots in the middle two frames of the game.
“We are learning Dusty on the fly, so to speak,” Franco said about Hannahs. “We haven’t had many practices, so we are learning his style of play with the team together. He is learning both our offense and defense, and sometimes, he needs to be reminded what to do. He is also a player that I have seen in the summer league. He is the type of player who has been able to feel free and comfortable on the court, even before he made any adjustments to play in Europe.”
“We had all told him that games in Jerusalem are not going to be ones with a 30-point difference, and that did something to him as he came in ready and prepared. I am proud of how he played, and I told him that after the game. I don’t know how we could have done this without him, and it gives us hope that we have yet another tool, also one who is an Israeli and can help us as the season continues.”
Timor also spoke about his new teammate. “Dusty is a scorer by nature, and you see it immediately in practice. None of us were surprised by what happened in this game. He really fits into the social fabric of this team, which was something that we feared a bit, but his introduction into the club has worked well for everyone. So it’s not a surprise he was excellent today.”
Kantzouris, who had Hannahs on his roster back in 2020 with Kolossos Rodou, is familiar with the Arkansas native and knew full well what type of damage he could create.“I know him very well, as I coached him in the past, and we prepared for him as we prepared for the entire Hapoel Tel Aviv team. We didn’t underestimate them, but we didn’t show the right attention to the players. This result has mostly to do with us collapsing in the third quarter.”
Kantzouris and his team had no answers. The coach had trouble finding the right time to call a timeout in the second quarter. In the third period, he watched his team crumble before his very eyes as Hapoel Tel Aviv sliced through his defense like a hot knife through butter.
“It’s more than just X’s and O’s,” Zach Hankins commented after the game. “It was a tactical and mental mess. They hit a couple of key 3-pointers, and they stuck together to their man closer. we had to react and stay with the game plan, which we didn’t. We can’t hang our heads; every player knows how to handle that, but every single one of us hung our heads, and that took away our awareness and mentality.”
There’s no question that Hapoel Jerusalem’s crucial BCL game this week against Karsiyaka is far more important than any league game right now, and without a pure point guard in Speedy Smith, who was resting and wasn’t registered for this league matchup, the Reds put themselves in an almost impossible situation. The lack of productivity by Yovel Zoosman, Or Cornelius, Khadeen Carrington, and Levi Randolph cost them as no one could orchestrate the offense, which in turn led to atrocious defense.
How much longer can Jerusalem and its management see the Israeli season coming apart at the seams? How much more will the fans, who are losing patience by the millisecond, take? It won’t be long before Sports Director Yonatan Alon, CEO Alon Kremer, and the ownership group, including former NBA guard Gal Mekel, will need to make a move because things are just not working under Kantzouris, who adopted Aleksandar Dzikic’s roster.
“We are together,” Kantzouris claimed. “This is what we discussed, and we do what we do really well. For a big part of the game, we showed that when we work as a team, we can do many things. But, of course, it’s not enough to play 22-24 minutes. We have to be more consistent and mentally tough throughout the game.”
While Kantzouris and the Reds players are all saying the right things and have publicly shown support for one another, something just isn’t clicking, and there are probably a million reasons why. However, for right now, the team is heading to Bosnia and Herzegovina to play Karsiyaka in a game that will determine whether it will continue on in Europe or not.
Even if Jerusalem loses this game, it may very well advance to the BCL quarterfinals due to the point differential. However, there is no way that either the coach or the players want to back their way into the postseason. Perhaps this will be a chance for all of the parties involved to get back on the same page and bounce back from the rough couple of months that they have been growing through.