Hapoel Holon qualified for the semi-finals of the Winner Cup yesterday (Wednesday) after defeating Hapoel Galil Aleiyon 79:91 in a game from which the team members left with mixed feelings, following the injury of CJ Harris in the first quarter after he slipped on the penalty sticker. The guard was taken to the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center where he underwent an MRI and are now awaiting the results of the test.
If we focus on the game itself, the team was happy with the first victory of the season that came after five losses in practice games. At Club India “we saw in this game much more than a training game so we squeezed the lemon, and the players played more than they planned to play”. The offensive flow in the game, even in a shorter rotation, still existed, and in the second half the defense looked better, “It’s not something we planned, but we’re happy to have offensive flow and defensive commitment. “A very nice team effort after we got 106 points in Paris,” the club said.
The main satisfaction was that several players got into the rhythm yesterday, beyond the huge game of Joe Ragland who provided a purposeful display that included 16 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists, Goodes’ great center was joined by five other players who scored in double figures. In fact, from the rotation that included only seven players after Harris was injured, only one player did not finish the game in double figures, and the club concluded “we are happy that everyone had their moments and we did not rely on one player”.
The yellow purples will return next week to Enrboks in Khedra for the semi-final stage of the Winner Cup, but even before that, Guy Goodes’ students left for Cyprus, on Friday evening they will play against Olympiakos and on Saturday they will meet Priestri. After that, the players will have two days off and on Tuesday preparations will begin for the semi-finals where they will meet the winner between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Gilboa/Galil.
Regarding the stickers, it is important to clarify that the league management held a concentrated day on the topic of stickers in which all suppliers are indeed authorized and that the stickers that will be used do meet the criteria of the Standards Institute. At the same time, alongside all the good will and the necessary steps by the league management to solve the phenomenon of slipping on the stickers, Harris’ injury – the severity of which will be determined during the day – came after he slipped on a sticker. This again raises the question why stickers are used within the areas of the parquet, because alternative solutions already written about in ONE before, exist.
Guy Goodes, the team’s coach, said after the game: “This is a preparation game for us, to see what we are capable of and in what form we are. Personal fitness, group fitness, good things and less that we recognize now and learn. I think the players also learn about each other. The third quarter was a good quarter that opened the difference, the fourth quarter was with seven rotation players and we fell off our feet. In the last five minutes we could no longer run.”
The coach added: “CJ is currently undergoing tests and our youngsters Dedon and Shahar are a bit cold so they weren’t there, but on the other hand Joe played 35 minutes. On the one hand I don’t like it less – the minutes, on the other hand it’s important that he runs and opens his lungs a little and gets in shape so we have to somehow balance it later. We have only been training for three and a half weeks, the personal fitness is still not there and we see it on the field, we need to line up and get in shape. We saw in the fourth quarter that we fell there, it’s important for us to push ourselves now to get in shape both individually and as a team. On the other hand, I see that we scored 60 points in the paint, maybe that means we have something different than what we had last year.”
On the fact that a player was injured because he slipped on a sticker: “There are problems with the stickers, it’s not the first time it happens that players slip and/or tear their groin or stretch some muscle or God forbid get injured. We still don’t know the severity of the injury, these are things that need to be checked. Today there are stickers that are less slippery. It is very bad for us, because he is a significant player. This currently leaves us with seven players in the rotation, it’s a lot of load and I don’t like it.’