By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In what qualifies as the biggest upset of recent years in Europe, Maccabi Tel Aviv for the first time after 22 season will not play in the finals of the Israeli league.
The former Euroleague champions after leading 2-0 in the semifinals, got eliminated as Hapoel Eilat got three wins in a row, the last of them tonight with the final score being 79-76. Afik Nissim with 19 points in total led Eilat in the second half, which had made just 8/18 free throws in the first half. Still Maccabi led just by three (36-33) and the writings on the wall was obvious. Yogev Ohayon and Jeremy Pargo finished the game with 19 and 18 points respectively, but they did most of their damage in the first half.
This is a major failure for last season’s Euroleague champions who lost among others their coach, NBA finalist David Blatt, and the back court duo or Tyrese Rice and Ricky Hickman. Despite this defeat, Maccabi will play in next season’s Euroleague, because of its A license, but major changes are expected in the team during the summer.