Will Hapoel Holon recover? After its winning streak was halted on Saturday night with a 99:78 defeat to Hapoel Galil Elyon, Guy Goodes’ team is currently hosting Hapoel Tel Aviv for an intriguing top game that was postponed from the 14th round and was held about two months late from its original date.
With Adam Smith and Chris Johnson returning to the squad at the expense of Steve Zack and Haydn Dalton, Holon are hoping to leave behind their second biggest loss of the season. The yellow-purples have already secured their place in the top house, but if they want to finish the round in first place, they must not lose more. Beyond that, Guy Goodes knows that if his team finishes the round in one of the top three places, they will have another home game by the end of the season.
Hapoel Tel Aviv will come to the game after returning to win with 71:92 over Hapoel Haifa, which put it a single victory away from securing a place in the top house with two games left to end the second round. But they will have to make do without the injured Jacoben Brown and the coronated Gal Gilinski will also be absent.
Hapoel Holon defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv in the last nine home games against them in the regular season, with the only loss coming in April 2017. In addition, four of the eight meetings between the teams at Toto Hall in the league were decided by a gap of three and below. In all settings with a stormy 98: 104 at the Shlomo Group Hall after coming back from a 13-point deficit and in the first round of the season they overcame them again, 62:67 thanks to a 0: 9 run in Money Time.
First quarter – 16:24
Hapoel Holon started with a top five: Joe Ragland, Adam Smith, Chris Johnson, Frederic Bourdieu and Michael Kaiser. Hapoel Tel Aviv started with a top five: JP Tokoto, Paul Stoll, Gil Benny, James Young and Idan Zalmanson.
The game was stopped immediately after the opening ball bounced after Holon fans threw mountains of confetti on the floor and after the cleanup, Adam Smith was sent to the line during a shot from outside the arc and scored three times. On the other hand, JP Tokoto scored from the line the first point of the Reds, missed the second shot but took a rebound himself and scored. Sol and Regland exchanged successful penetrations to the basket and after fouls on both sides from the three Young raised the Reds to 5: 7, but a three by Smith, the first in the game, immediately returned the advantage to Holon. The swing continued with two baskets of Zalmanson in color on one side and shots by Johnson and Kaiser on the other, before Xiang was sent to the line and with two shots raised the visitors to 12:13, five and a half minutes into the quarter.
Tyros Maggie came off the bench and in his first action returned the lead to the host, but Zalmanson, with a basket and a foul from the point, put the Reds 2 points ahead. But then Tyros Maggie equalized with two of three from the penalty spot, Smith sniped another three and Chris Johnson closed out a 0-7 run, and Danny Franco took a timeout. It did not help him and Rafi Manko, with another three, set the quarter result, 16:24.
Second quarter – 37:47 to Holon
The second quarter opened with five quick points from Johnson that closed out a surprising 0:15 run, but Lotan Amsalem and Igor Kolshov stopped the run and dropped to 9 points. Pnini’s great assist, his sixth of the game, to Kaiser’s dunk, returned to a double-digit lead and the teams went down to a timeout. Amsalem’s three more points reduced the gap to eight, Pnini responded with a three and a basket move and a Zalmanson foul led Goodes to take a timeout. Smith came back from the timeout with a shot from half distance and another three, with Bar Timor hitting first points, and Danny Franco took a timeout with 28:39 on the board, just over three minutes to the end of the quarter.
Tokoto came back well from the timeout with 5 speed points, but Bourdieu scored in the middle and then Johnson, with two shots, raised to 33:45. Zalmanson and Yeng returned to 8 points and less than half a minute to the end of the half, Goodes took a timeout and in the last Holon attack Manco’s basket after an offensive rebound set the half time score, 37:47 to Holon.