Short tournaments always have ups and downs, highs and lows that swing like a pendulum. That’s exactly how the Israel National Basketball Team’s EuroBasket campaign unfolded.
A superb win over France was no doubt the high for Deni Avdija & Co., while a close loss to host Poland after having heard the Israeli national anthem Hatikvah booed loudly was one of the lowest of lows. Emotions, tons of them in all shapes and forms were part of this journey that also saw wins against Belgium and Iceland and defeats to Luka Doncic and Slovenia as well as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece.
The blue-and-white players knew that the minimum they had to do was to get to the knockout round-of-16 in Riga and that’s what they did – no more and no less. To get to Latvia, they needed to make it out of group play in Katowice and that’s precisely the ceiling of what head coach Ariel Beit Halachmi’s squad was able to do.
Israel flirted with advancing from first place in Group D, but ended up in fourth place after the loss to Slovenia which set up the last-16 game versus Greece instead of Georgia, which anyways ended up knocking France out of the competition.
There were a number of items that stood out in the campaign – good, bad and ugly – that have to be analyzed in order for Israel to be able to come back and make the best of its upcoming opportunities.
With a budding all-star in Portland Trail Blazers forward Avdija as well as a pair of Israelis who will be debuting in the NBA this coming season with the Brooklyn Nets in Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, the future is indeed bright.
However, it’s the supporting cast that needs to be revamped and renewed in order for the blue-and-white to make a real run at international basketball glory.
Israel at EuroBasket: The good, the bad, and the ugly
As for the good, Roman Sorkin and Tomer Ginat stepped up to the plate and did an admirable job as both had their fingerprints all over a win apiece, whether it was the former against Iceland or the latter versus Belgium. Without their fine play, those two games could have ended in disastrous defeats.
Yam Madar, who played the entire tournament on a bad right knee, stepped up and did everything within his power to help the blue-and-white and did a spectacular job game after game. In fact, he played and looked much better than many thought he would be able to after having been on the shelf since the early Spring.
Beating France will go down as an all-time great achievement for Israel and this group of players; it was their signature moment of the tournament and a true highlight that each player will be able to hang their hat on. It may have lost a bit of luster when Georgia bounced the French out of the competition, but without a doubt this was still an incredible win over a national team that has so many tools in the toolbox.
What else can be said about Avdija? Averages of 24 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, is that not enough? Avdija was stellar game in and game out as he led the national team time and time again with his incredible play. He pushed plenty of defenders around, went to the hoop, hit a key shot or scored a timely layup. He did it all and he did absolutely everything in his power to take the team on his shoulders.
There were a few other bright spots, whether it was Ethan Burg’s performance against France (why did we not see more of the Tennessee guard?), Guy Palatin’s play in the Slovenia game and the camaraderie of the squad, one-for-all-and-all-for-one attitude throughout.
However, with the good there is also the bad. Beit Halachmi was never able to really trust his bench and play a proper rotation from game to game. If one looks at the stats, it’s clear that he leaned heavily on the starters and very little on the guys who were on the pine.
That was clearly true from naturalized player Khadeen Carrington (7.5 points a game), who never seemed to get into the flow of the game, as well as his Hapoel Jerusalem teammate Yovel Zoosman, who under the right circumstances could have and should have been able to contribute way more than 3.2 points in under 15 minutes per game. That’s not the Zoos many Israeli fans know.
Bar Timor and Nimrod Levi also were unable to impact any one of the six games and that also goes for Itay Segev and Rafi Menco, who only featured in three contests. Israel, which ended the tournament with a brutal 32.7% from beyond the arc, could have used a shooter from long distance and that was certainly missing all EuroBasket long as it finished 14th overall in that category. While we’re on team statistical categories, Israel finished a paltry 16th in assists and in rebounds, which is not good enough to be one of the top-8 teams in Europe.
If some of those stats were a bit ugly, well there was some ugly in Israel’s campaign as well.
It always seems that when the Israelis face a player who is better than their top player – which in this case was Avdija – they fall apart and allow that superstar to do as they please and dictate play while doing as they please.
The two perfect examples would be Slovenia’s Luka and Greece’s Giannis. The two manhandled Israel one play after the next and put up gaudy, gaudy numbers to the tune of 37 points apiece, with Doncic grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing out nine assists, and Antetokounmpo taking 10 boards.
Doncic went to the line nine times, but Antetokounmpo took just two(!) free throws the entire game. How is that possible? Why did Israel not send him to the stripe? Those are questions Beit Halachmi will need to answer.
Another question that perhaps will still be floating around the campaign was the absence of Tamir Blatt. Boy, could they have used his playmaking ability and 3-point shooting! Would it have made a real difference had the Maccabi Tel Aviv guard been on the team? That is a question that no one will ever know the answer to, but there is no question that Israel would have had another ball handler and point guard that they were sorely lacking.
The ugliest moment of the EuroBasket for Israel, also, turned out to be one of the most unifying moments for the entire team, from players to staff as well as for the fans.
When the Poland fans rained boos down during the national anthem just prior to tipoff of their contest, the Israeli contingent from young to old were stunned and shocked. They did not know what had happened in that instance. But within a second or two everyone began to sing Hatikvah at the top of their lungs and as loud as they could as they belted out the words “Lihyot ‘am chofshi be’artzenu, Eretz Tziyon v’Yerushalayim” – “To be a free nation in our own land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
That united everyone around the team and while they came up just short in a two-point loss in that game, the next day they came out like a house on fire, possessed to never allow anyone to mock and taint the anthem and took that all out in the win over France. The players and fans celebrated that victory, one of Israel’s best throughout the years and rightfully so.
Here’s hoping that this win will spur us all on and that we can be a free nation in our own land and celebrate many victories together as one people, the people of Israel.