Maccabi Tel Aviv will try to become tonight (Sunday) at 20:30 the first team to reach the playoff finals: it will host Bnei Herzliya in the second game of the semifinal series, knowing that a victory will send it to the next stage.
“We are going to a very difficult field, Bnei Herzliya there with 80 percent success,” he said Avi Even Ahead of the meeting. “We will have to bring the same attitude we brought in the second half of the first game, the same intensity and the same aggression. We will have to leave everything on the field to end the series there in Herzliya.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv sweated quite a bit in the first game of the series. After falling behind for the break, they showed an excellent second half, especially at the defensive level, when they absorbed only 31 points and won 76:82. Chris Bab did not score a single three-pointer (0 out of 6), while Maccabi manages to reduce the Herzlians’ shooting percentage outside the arc to only 14%.
Stone continues of course with the same squad for the first game, given the league rules that do not allow foreign exchanges during a series. This means that Jaylen Reynolds, Angelo Cloiaro and Kyrie Thomas will not dress, while Maccabi hopes to receive a more significant contribution from Manta Zizic, who returned from injury in the previous game and is a partner for only 12 minutes.
The statistics stand by the champion, who has played in the history of Israeli basketball 30 series of the best of three games. She won in all 30s. However, Maccabi Tel Aviv has already lost this season in the Jubilee Hall, 70:59, in one of its fall displays this season.
The loss this season in Herzliya was the exception, as Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Bnei Herzliya in 14 of the last 15 league games between the teams and in all 8 last playoff meetings. Five of the previous six series between the clubs were decided in a sweep in favor of the Yellows.