Tomorrow: Hapoel meets Galatasaray again

After that, Hapoel finished the first round with a positive record (2:1), the team will meet Galatasaray once again tomorrow (20:30, broadcast on 5 Plus). This will be the third time only this season that Hapoel meets Gala, having met her in the pre-season tournament, the Banja Luka tournament, and in the first round of the Champions League, which Hapoel hosted in Belgrade.

 

The game against Galatasaray in the Banja Luka tournament, in which Hapoel lost, took place in the same arena where the game will be hosted tomorrow, the Laktaši Arena in Bosnia, which is also the home arena of the Bosnian Igokea team. As most of the red fans remember, the previous game against the teams dragged into overtime and ended in the most tense way possible. Speedy Smith's lift-up in the final minutes, including two heroic 3's towards the end of the fourth quarter that tied the score, helped Hapoel achieve the important victory in the first round.

Hapoel's previous games against Galatasaray were characterized by a fast pace and a high number of possessions. Gala threw an average of 31 3-pointers in each game, while Hapoel threw only 17 and focused on getting into the paint for the Turks. The high tempo caused the scorers of both teams to take on more, as two-thirds of the Reds' points (66 of 99) were scored by Khadeen Carrington (27), Speedy Smith (20), and Levi Randolph (19). On the other side, 45 of Galatasaray's 96 were scored by Yaboa (27 points, 7/8 to 3) and Corey Walden (18). Gala does come after achieving its first victory in the Champions League after 98-78 over Benfica, but it comes when the last four games it played out of five ended in a loss for them.