Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 91-88 in Game 1 of the Israel basketball league finals as Tamir Blatt nailed a key three-pointer and hit his free throws down the stretch to help the yellow-and-blue take the first step to capturing the championship on Thursday night in the Israeli capital.
Jerusalem’s Jeremy Morgan had the hot hand out of the gate, but Jaylen Hoard countered for Maccabi and John DiBartolomeo drilled a triple to give Tel Aviv a 24-22 lead after the opening quarter. Yovel Zoosman started to score for the visitors, but Roman Sorkin took over with points from the inside and outside. However, Justin Smith scored in bunches to give Jerusalem a 46-44 lead at halftime.
Smith continued his scoring spree and Zoosman put the Reds up by double digits, but a late 11-2 run by the Maccabi led by Hoard cut the Jerusalem advantage down to 69-67 after 30 minutes of play. Jared Harper began to impact the game, but Rokas Jokubaitis scored critical baskets down the stretch while Blatt was good from long distance and the foul line to help seal the victory.
Hoard scored 18 points while Blatt and Sorkin each scored 14 points for Maccabi in the win. Harper scored 19 points for Jerusalem, Zoosman added 18 points and Smith put in 12 points in the loss.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Oded Katash said. “We were able to win the game by the skin of our teeth and there have been many games when we didn’t have the energy that we needed. But the fans were here for us and that’s really why we won the game. There were runs in the game and there were many cheap points. We didn’t know how to use our fouls properly which was an issue… We have plenty to improve on both ends of the floor.”
“We played a good team and there was a momentum shift,” Hapoel Jerusalem bench boss Yonatan Alon began.
“They hit their free throws and we have to make sure that we have all of our fans with us for Game 2 back at home.
As for the run at the end of the third quarter, timeouts are not a magical way to stop a play and runs are natural. We had chances to hit a few three-pointers in that stretch and we had our chances in general, but we have to be more dominant on the 50/50 balls, and also they hit 28-of-29 free throws.
“We have to come into Game 2 on Thursday with 11,000 fans in red and play aggressive basketball. We have to make sure that what was in the huge win we had against AEK a few years back was just like a kindergarten party.”
Jokubatis reflects on the win from Tel Aviv’s perspective
“The whole game was tight and the last quarter when I was on, I know what I need to do and what I am here for. We did a great job at the end of the game when we were down by 11 points and we kept fighting. We have Game 2 in Jerusalem and I hope we finish off the series.”
Sorkin also spoke about the victory.
“We didn’t play great basketball, but we showed character in the end and we came back from a double-digit deficit. I don’t think the long break we had between games hurt our drive, those are just excuses. The most important thing is to win the championship. Jerusalem is an aggressive team and they play very tough basketball. When you come to play against them, you know you’re coming into a physical battle.
“We can’t celebrate the win too much as we have another one to win.”
Zoosman spoke about the loss from Jerusalem’s point of view.
“If we would have played a complete 40 minutes we would have had a better chance to win. There were some minutes where we could have made some better decisions. We will make adjustments and hopefully send this series back to Tel Aviv.”