In the Cup Semi's we were heavy underdogs going up against 2nd place Jerusalem without our starting point guard Doron Perkins who is out with a groin injury. We were 9 point underdogs going into the game, so no one expected us to win. We played Jerusalem at the Nokia Center in Tel Aviv (where Maccabi TA plays) and the gym was frickin' packed. All four semi-final teams brought pretty large amounts of people which led to very few empty seats. Hapoel Holon beat Nahariya right before we played, so their fans stayed to root us on against Jerusalem (figuring we would be the easier team to defeat in the Final). After a back and forth game all night which saw many lead changes, we were up by 2 with 30 seconds to go in the game. We played GREAT defense on the posession forcing their four-man to shoot a contested step back 3 pointer with nearly no time left on the shot clock... the shot we wanted them to take... and sure enough... HE MADE IT. So down 1 point with 8 seconds to go, we get the ball to Moshe Mizrahi on a baseline cut with 2 seconds left, and he shoots a circus 5 footer, gets fouled, and MAKES THE SHOT! We are now up 1, he misses the free throw because they do not have any timeouts, and they have to attempt a full court shot as time expires... and we WIN!! This is the first time in 20 years of Israeli basketball that neither Jerusalem or Maccabi Tel Aviv were in the Cup Final. Regardless of who won between us and Holon it would be a new champion for the first time in 25 years or so.
So onto the final...
We played Holon who we had beat three times already this year (two friendly games, and once in league) so we were very confident that we could get the job done. The final went eerily similar to that of the Semi-final, as there were a lot of lead changes, and a lot of back and forths... and once again it came down to the final posession. We were up 1 and had the ball with 8 seconds left, and got fouled. We went to the line and hit 1 of 2 free throws, and had a 2 point lead as they rushed the ball up the court with 7 seconds to go. Their veteran point guard who comes off the bench, brought the ball up and found himself trapped with nowhere to go 15 ft from the basket. With two seconds left he dribbled back out to the corner and shot a double pump, step back, super contested three pointer over two defenders...AND MADE IT WITH NO TIME LEFT. I have never seen anything like it to end a game that I participated in. We did everything we could do on that posession, he just made a ridiculous shot to beat us, that is the bottom line.
So in the span of .5 seconds, we went from being on top of the world, to the bottom. I guess that is why you play basketball for moments like that, you just never want to be on the losing end.
The crazy thing is we play this same Holon team in the league schedule this weekend in their gym, so it will be a good chance for us to display our character and see what we can do. That's all for now, and I will be sure to update the blog after that game. I hope everyone is well, and I will be back soon!
