By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
What a thunderous way for Hapoel Jerusalem to begin the new season. The rising power of Israeli basketball made a serious point in the Winner Cup final by defeating rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv 77 – 62 and getting the trophy in their bags.
Curtis Jerrells paced the winners with 19 points, while Tarence Kinsey added 12 along with 6 rebounds. On the way to celebrating his first title in Israel, Amar’e Stoudemire dropped 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in the 25 minutes he spent on the floor.
Sonny Weems (17 points, 6 rebounds) and Maik Zirbes (13 points, 7 rebounds) fought the hardest for a Maccabi squad that rarely worked effectively on both ends. The “injury plague” (Andrew Goudelock, Itay Segev, along with the usual problem with Quincy Miller) that has been torturing the “Yellows” was definitely no excuse for such a disappointing performance in their first major challenge of the new season.
After a first half from which the two teams got a slice of the cake each, coach Pianigiani’s players stormed their way back to the game in their return from the locker rooms. They turned their 38 – 35 halftime lead into 62 – 47 and then secured a safe distance by gaining an advantage of 19 points, 70 – 51 at the mid of the final quarter.
A difference big enough to, more or less, light the “Game Over” sign over the arena.
“We didn’t play well. Jerusalem was better in every aspect of the game and deserved to win”, said Maccabi Tel Aviv’s coach Erez Edelstein, “We have problems and we’ll work on solving them. I felt during the third quarter that we were playing with no control and basically working off of instinct. That’s not how we want to play”.
Maccabi’s captain Guy Pnini added: “This wasn’t our tempo. Jerusalem managed to slow us down and mess up our rhythm, especially in our half-court offense. We’re worth more than 62 points, but this happens and we’re only in October. We have a long season ahead of us”.