Hapoel Jerusalem lost its way and the crowd lost patience

“For better and for worse,” Adelson tweeted. “We will get out of this. Certify the process”, he asked, and it is not certain that he will receive it: it is possible that in a normal situation, against the background of the war and especially in light of the loss of the coach, the Jerusalem audience would have accepted a season that would end empty-handed; This way – less. It requires active responses, but they will not take place immediately. Already today, in a low mood, the team will leave for Bosnia and Herzegovina – in preparation for the fateful meeting with Pinar Krasjaka in the lock round of the Top 16, which will be held on Tuesday.

Six rounds to the end of the regular season, Jerusalem is ranked seventh in the league, and understands very well what this means: if it does not climb at least one step in the table, and falls into the bottom bracket, it will, at best, reach a series against one of the Tel Aviv teams without the home advantage already in the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

“It feels awful,” Zach Hankins admitted. “This is the most challenging season I’ve had. A lot of things happen to Israel, the coach changed and we got into difficult situations. In the first half we proved that we are capable of competing against any team. And the third quarter shows us that it’s up to us. What happened in the third quarter was tactical as well as mental. They scored several three-pointers , and suddenly players stuck too much to the opponents. We mustn’t lower our heads too much, and that’s what happened to us. We have to react to this situation.

“We were close last season, and everything went well, and we expected the team to continue to progress. We need to be mentally strong in a time like this, not just in one game, but over time. We need to find our DNA. The coach lets us react, and we need to do the This and to fight. The fans deserve much more. We have everything we need, and we can respond and finish in first place in the Champions League and give a good run in the playoffs in Israel.”