Maccabi Tel Aviv got by Hapoel Jerusalem 89-82 in Game 1 of their semifinal series on Wednesday night thanks to a fourth-quarter comeback to move to within one win of the finals.
Tamir Blatt, Bonzie Colson and Roman Sorkin were able to outduel Khadeen Carrington and Speedy Smith down the stretch to snatch the win from the jaws of defeat with clutch shooting to take the victory and the 1-0 series lead.
Game 2 will be in the capital on Friday at 2:45 p.m.
With each team playing without one of their leaders due to injury – Maccabi’s Wade Baldwin and Levi Randolph for Jerusalem – the visiting Reds jumped out to an early lead with Carrington, JaCorey Williams and Nimrod Levi all finding the basket. But Josh Nebo, Jasiel Rivero and Colson countered for Tel Aviv as the teams headed into halftime all knotted up at 42-42.
Nebo, who had played a solid first half, was unavailable for the second due to a leg injury as Smith along with Noam Dovrat and Levi kept Yonatan Alon’s team in front. But Blatt hit huge buckets from deep while dishing out assists galore to Sorkin and Colson as Oded Katash’s team moved in front late to take the win.
Blatt scored 16 points dished out 11 assists and drew 10 fouls, Colson and Rivero both scored 16 points while Sorkin scored 14 points in the victory. Carrington scored 24 points to lead Jerusalem, Smith added 20 points and Levi scored 13 points in the loss.
Players reflect on game
“We were a bit under pressure and wanted it too much in the first half,” Katash said. “We didn’t play defensively the way we wanted to. We weren’t playing calmly and I understood that. The second half we played better, especially on the defensive side.
"But what really won the game for us was the extra couple of rebounds and the fact that we didn’t turn the ball over. We used our advantage by playing with two bigs and we went to the line. However, we still have to play better in a couple of days.”
“We controlled a lot of the game and there were some decisions that went one way or the other. Congrats to Maccabi,” Alon began. “We played three games against Holon and each team came to play and here all of a sudden Maccabi went to the line 37 times. We want to give a good product for the fans and I can’t remember the last time a 40-minute game had 37 free throws.”
Sorkin discussed the game from his point of view. “We did good work in general but we could have done a bit of a better job on the offensive boards. Josh Nebo is an important player for us and I hope he will play but we have a big roster and someone else will fill his shoes. We should have played better defense in the first half, but it’s an important playoff game and both teams played as it was. We will have to do a better job in Game 2 as we have a goal that we want to reach this season.”
Carrington reflected on the loss from Jerusalem’s perspective, while also talking about compensating for Randolph’s absence.
“It was a semifinal versus Maccabi and it was self explanatory as both teams fought and we left it all out there. We can’t cry over spilled milk. We controlled the whole game and made some mistakes near the end. Obviously, Levi Randolph is a big part of what we do and he’s a leader for us and that was a lot of points that we didn’t have and I had to pick it up. We all stepped up and we all played well for the whole game. We will watch some film and clean some things up and give ourselves a good chance on Friday.”
