Tomorrow: the cup holder aims to 0:2

Last season, Bnei Herzeliya reached the playoffs one stage above Hapoel "Bank Yahav" Jerusalem and was only stopped in the final. This season, if she wants to keep her chances of repeating the achievement, she must beat the cup holder tomorrow (Sunday) in her home arena, the cup holder who hopes to return home with a 0:2 advantage (19:35, live broadcast on the PLUS5 channel, referees: Erez Gurion, Tzachi Bedali , Noam Gordon). Both teams continue with the same rosters from the first game.

Hapoel opened the series with a 70:81 victory after erasing an early double-digit deficit. Herzliya got off to a great start led by Quinton Hawker, who scored 10 of his 13 points in the first quarter, but an amazing second quarter by Speedy Smith turned the score around, and the Reds knew how to keep the lead until the end. Smith finished with 20 points and 5 assists; Zach Hankins dominated under the basket with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks; and Levi Randolph contributed 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Chris Babb led the guests with 23 points; Maurice Kemp added 19 and 11 rebounds.

In all three meetings between them this season, the team that led at the end of the first quarter went down defeated. In the second round, Hapoel finished the first 10 minutes at the Yovel Arena with a 15:19 advantage and even went into the break with a 29:36 lead, but a third quarter of 10:25 by the host turned the result. On the way to 66:83 at the end, at Pais Arena, the visitors from The Sharon ran to a quick double-digit gap and finished the first quarter with a promising advantage (11:27 in the regular season, 14:22 in the playoffs); in the regular league game, the Reds from the capital turned around late and only won at the end of overtime; in the first game of the quarterfinals, they took the advantage even before the break thanks to a 0:20 run.

In the three meetings this season against Bnei Herzliya, Speedy Smith led the cup holder with 20.0 points, 4.7 three-pointers with 67% accuracy, and a 22.0 index—double data compared to his averages against the other opponents: 10.8 points, 1.7 three-pointers with 37% accuracy, and an 11.3 efficiency index. In the victory over the runner-up in the second round, he set career highs of 28 points and six three-pointers, including the one that secured the victory in overtime, while in the opening game of the series, he alone finished the second quarter with more points (18), three-pointers (5 of 5), assists (3), and measures (22) than the whole opponent together.

In the absence of Sandy Cohen, Bnei Herzliya's bench and its rotation were greatly reduced: in the regular season, they received 21.2 points and averaged 23.9 in 58 minutes from her substitute players, but in the first game of the series, her bench contributed only 7 points and averaged 1 in 48 minutes. Last season, the Blue-Whites from Sharon won their first three home games in the playoffs by an average margin of 17.7 points. Hapoel finished the playoffs last year with a perfect away record of three wins from three games with an average difference of 30.3 points. Since the loss in Game 2 of the 2017 quarterfinals in Nahariya, the Reds from the capital have won eight of their nine away games in the playoffs.

In 90 of the best-of-5 series in the top playoffs, the team that won the first game won (81.8%). Only in 20 of the series did the team that fell behind 1:0 (18.2%) win the series. In the last two seasons in which best-of-5 series were held in the quarterfinals, only one team managed to win the series after being defeated in the opening game: Hapoel last year against Hapoel Gilboa Galil. In the 2018 playoff quarterfinals, there were two comebacks from a 1:0 deficit: Hapoel again against Gilboa Galil and Hapoel Tel Aviv against Maccabi Ashdod.

Beginning with the 89/90 season, there were 110 best-of-five series in the top playoffs in Israel: 47 of the series ended in a 0:3 sweep (Maccabi Tel Aviv is responsible for 31 of the sweeps), 42 of the series ended in a 3:1 result, and 21 of the series reached a decisive fifth game.

In 85 of the best-of-5 series to date, the team with the home advantage won (77.3%), compared to 25 victories for the team without the home advantage (22.7%). Last season, all quarterfinal (best of 5) series ended with the team with the home advantage winning, but in the semifinal and final (best of 3) series, the lower seed won.

Only three times in history did a team from 7th place eliminate a team from 2nd place in the quarterfinals of the playoffs: Hapoel Haifa in the 86/87 season against Hapoel Holon (0:2), Maccabi Ashdod in the 11/12 season against Gilboa/Galil (1:3), and Maccabi Rishon Lezion before the Sixth Year against Hapoel Eilat (2:3).