Israeli Cup Final: February 7, 2008 - ISRAEL - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL

May 25, 2013

Israeli Cup Final: February 7, 2008

For the second year in a row Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem is the Israeli Cup winner after an amazing fourth quarter comeback against Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv on the way to an 89-93 win. Hapoel trailed by 22 in the third quarter and entered the last quarter down 73-55, but scored 38 points in the last 10 minutes to shock Maccabi in front of a packed Nokia Arena divided by fanatic yellow and red fans. Maccabi dominated the game for 30 minutes, but saw Yotam Halperin, Omri Casspi and Terence Morris – all having big nights – foul out in the last quarter, while Marcus Fizer and Will Bynum played the closing minutes with 4 fouls. The main hero, who drew foul after foul was former Maccabi player, Jaime Arnold, who was named the MVP after scoring 29 points behind 17 made fouls shots in addition to 11 rebounds. Arnold secured the win from the line with 4.4 seconds on the clock. Timmy Bowers added 19 points, Sharon Shason 15 and Guy Pniny 11. Vonteego Cummings and Fizer led Maccabi with 16 points each, Casspi had 13 while Morris finished with 8 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Maccabi relied on Morris to seal the paint on defense and used Fizer who picked up 5 points in Maccabi's 11-7 lead after five minutes. Cummings and Casspi connected downtown as Maccabi surged ahead and led 25-14 after 10 minutes. Maccabi maintained its lead in the second period as Hapoel got in trouble when point guard Dror Hagag picked up his third foul and right away was called for a technical, which left Hapoel without a floor general. Still Jerusalem kept the lead from getting out of hand and Maccabi led 50-39 at halftime. Cummings opened the second half with another attack and once Fizer and Morris joined him, Maccabi finished an 11-2 run to take a 61-41 lead. Head coach Dan Shamir sent Hagag back on court in hope to save the game, but Maccabi was already in full stride. Casspi light up the crowd with aggressive plays and the teams entered the last quarter with Maccabi up 73-55. Hapoel gave another push to save the game. Bowers hit a long-range jumper and Arnold added 5 points as Hapoel moved to a full-court press, which resulted in 2 turnovers by Maccabi as the lead slipped to 73-67. Fizer committed his fourth foul on offense and on the other side Morris got called on his fourth as well, while Arnold cut it to 4 and capped a 0-14 run. Fizer corrected a missed shot to end Maccabi's drought, but Hapoel was already strong in the game, answering on the other side. Halperin fouled out and the pressure got bigger on the yellow-and-blue side. Casspi was next to foul out and Hapoel's full-court pressure had its effect again as Bowers stole and with a three-point play gave Hapoel it's first lead since the early minutes, 78-79. Hagag continued to oil the Red machine and points and assists sent Hapoel to a shocking 84-89 lead. David Bluthenthal came off the bench to hit a big three-pointer and Will Bynum cut it down to just 1 with a lay up, but missed the chance to tie from the line and Hapoel had the ball with 32 seconds on the clock up 89-90. Bowers hit twice from the line and Bluthenthal missed a potential game-tying shot. Arnold then secure the cup from the line.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Yarone Arbel, Tel Aviv