The top house games in the Basketball Premier League will be closed tomorrow (Sunday, 18:30) at Menorah Hall, when Maccabi Tel Aviv will host Hapoel Tel Aviv in the final game. The match will finalize the standings before the playoffs, which will begin on Monday in the first match of the quarter-final series between Hapoel Holon and Hapoel Galil Oliion in the best-of-five-game format.
A victory for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the derby will determine that they will finish in first place and meet Hapoel Beer Sheva/Dimona in the quarterfinals, Hapoel Tel Aviv will finish third and meet Ironi Nes Ziona, while Hapoel Jerusalem will finish second and meet Bnei Herzliya. A victory for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the derby will determine that they will finish in first place and meet Hapoel Beer Sheva/Dimona in the quarterfinals, Maccabi Tel Aviv will finish second and meet Bnei Herzliya and Hapoel Jerusalem will finish third and meet Ironi Nes Ziona.
Four days after the disappointing loss to Monaco that ended its Euroleague season, Maccabi Tel Aviv returns to the league, the most significant title it can still take this season. The Yellows define their European season as successful, and at the same time are already working on the next season, but know that without the championship title and with an empty cupboard describing this season, they will not be able to look at this season with a smile. Tomorrow’s game is the last in which the Yellows will be able to make changes between games in the foreign squad, when within the series they will be forced to stay with the same players, and it will be interesting to see if Oded Ketch will rotate between the derby and the quarter-final series.
Hapoel Tel Aviv managed to stop its streak of losses last week with a home victory over Nes Ziona City which preserved a chance for them to finish in first place in the table, if they win the derby. The Reds recorded a not particularly impressive home run, with losses to Hapoel Holon and Hapoel Jerusalem, and not great basketball victories over Nes Ziona and Upper Galilee, but know that the feeling with which they will reach the playoffs will depend on the ability and the result of the derby. In Hapoel they carry several injuries from the last period, when Jaylen Hurd who did not play in the last game is in doubt for the competition and Idan Zalmanson will continue to be absent.
