Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Gilboa Galil went up to the parquet in the arena today (Friday) for game number 3 in the quarterfinals of the playoffs between them. After each of the teams has won away, they will try to break a tie in the direction they want. Jerusalem repaid Gilboa for the home loss (88:85) with a big 61:96 in Gan Ner and is a clear favorite – among other things in light of the fact that the guest with only two foreigners.
Quarter 1
Jerusalem started well with a strong defense and a rise to 0: 5, without absorbing a basket for almost 3 minutes. Later, Gilboa managed to start producing points and reduced to 9: 8. Jerusalem increased to 11:17, but was not sharp enough in the attack and Gilboa remained in the area, with a three-pointer by Hanochi setting 17:17 less than two minutes before the end of the quarter. The locals continued to struggle, stopping again and again and at the end of the first quarter a reversal: 17:19 to Gilboa.
Quarter 2
The offensive ability of both teams – which was far from convincing in the first quarter – was even worse in the second quarter. When Gilboa got stuck, Jerusalem went up to 19:22 and when the team from the capital could not score out of nowhere, the guests turned again and climbed to 23:29. Jerusalem looked at a loss, until a Braimo three-pointer released the stopper and marked the way for a big 0:16 run and 29:38 at the half.
Quarter 3
Jerusalem did not know how to continue the momentum from the second quarter and Roni Harel reduced the deficit of Gilboa to 38:37 with his own hands. It was the signal of the locals to wake up. Adams and Agbono sniped, a slingshot under the basket and Jerusalem climbed to a first double-digit advantage, 39:50. The advantage had already grown to 14, Brisker lowered with excellent offensive moves and at the end of the quarter 50:59 to the team from the capital.
Quarter 4
Jerusalem’s 7 consecutive points at the start of the fourth quarter, raised it to 50:66 and actually closed a story. Halperin’s team did the job on defense and managed to stop Gilboa and on the other side scored in bursts to climb to 21 difference (51:72) with a little more than 6 minutes on the clock.