The upper and lower house games in the Premier Basketball League will continue tomorrow (Saturday). In the main game of the weekend, Hapoel Jerusalem will host Hapoel Holon (1:1 between the teams in the league so far), just before their season match in the FIBA Champions League against AAK Athens. In the battle for seventh place in the table, Hapoel Beer will host Sheva beat Bnei Herzliya (0:2 to Be’er Sheva in the league so far) with both teams having the same balance.
Hapoel Jerusalem – Hapoel Holon (21:00)
After the traumatic event that took place in the middle of the week in Athens, Hapoel Jerusalem returns to the floor in one of the club’s most important weeks this season. In Jerusalem, they know that the game against Holon will probably determine the final place in the top house of the Reds, with a loss costing them a drop to fourth place and a win securing third place. But with all due respect to the game against Holon, the really important game will be on Wednesday against AAK Athens for entry to the Final Four, when the club is working around the clock to try and fill the arena. Coach Aleksandar Džikić is expected to distribute the minutes in order not to wear out the team’s key players.
Hapoel Holon felt a certain lack after the loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv at the beginning of the week. The Purples were close to leading the table at many stages of the game, but allowed Maccabi too many three-pointers and came away with another loss. In Holon they know that if they want to remain competitive in the upper house, and fight for fourth place, they must beat Jerusalem, who beat them in the last three meetings between the teams this season. In Holon they hope to find a solution for Marvin Jones who is supposed to leave the team before the end of the season. Meanwhile, Freddie Bourdillon will return tomorrow from a three-month absence, remembering the foot injury he suffered in the match against Strasbourg in the Champions League. On the other hand, Shahar Amir has not yet recovered from a shoulder injury, Javin Delorier suffered from a virus, so both will be absent. CJ Harris was not registered.
Hapoel Beer Sheva – Bnei Herzliya (20:00)
Lior Liubin’s team opened the lower house with a dramatic victory over Hapoel Haifa, which kept them in seventh place, where they want to end the season, and in the capital of the Negev they know that a victory over Bnei Herzliya will give them an advantage that the opponent will have a hard time closing until the end of the season. At the same time as the lower house games in Beer Sheva are waiting for the Final Four games of the Balkan League which will be held in two weeks when Beer Sheva will meet Kay Kay Millennium in the semi-finals.
Like Beer Sheva, Bnei Herzliya also opened the lower house on the right foot after they managed to escape in the second half to Gilboa/Galil, who locked the table. After a difficult season in Herzliya, they believe that they arrived at the right time and believe that if they manage to avoid Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals of the playoffs, they have a chance to reach the semifinals again. To finish in seventh place, Herzliya must win in Beer Sheva and not drop games after that, after they have already lost twice this season to a team from the south.