The two teams meet for a do-or-die showdown in the series decider on Wednesday
Game 2 showed what Hapoel Tel Aviv, Valencia need to address in Game 3
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After two games, there’s nothing to separate Valencia Basket and Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv in 2025 BKT EuroCup Semifinals. The series is tied 1-1 and after Wednesday night, one of the clubs will find itself in the finals.
Looking ahead to Game 3 at La Fonteta, both sides will have learned plenty of lessons from Games 1 and 2. Friday night’s battle in Samokov, Bulgaria, certainly will have given Pedro Martinez and Dimitris Itoudis plenty to think about.
Itoudis was the happier of the two coaches after seeing his team come away with a 96-91 win, a victory that kept Hapoel’s season alive. There were excellent performances by Johnathan Motley (21 points, 8 rebounds), Yam Madar (21 points, 9 assists) and Antonio Blakeney (22 points), who combined for 69 of their team’s points on the night, while Tomer Ginat was another who came close to a double-double with 12 points and 8 boards.
Yet, it wasn’t a headache-free night for the Greek play-caller. Hapoel led for the final 28:36 minutes of the contest and was up by a game-high 17 points (74-57) five and a half minutes into the third period having outscored Valencia 20-9 in the quarter. But then Hapoel took its foot off the gas and almost paid the consequences.
In those final 4:30 minutes of the third frame, Valencia poured in 14 points and held Hapoel to just 2, making it 76-71 heading into the fourth. Suddenly, Valencia’s tails were up and it looked like a nervy finish was on the cards.
Madar and Blakeney made sure that was not the case, though, by coming up with some huge buckets in the first 7 minutes, then Ginat’s three-pointer with 2:21 to go extended Hapoel’s lead to 96-85, which would prove to be unassailable.
That lapse in concentration, or whatever you want to call it, in the latter stages of the third quarter could have been costly for Hapoel, but it found a way to keep the series alive. Still, Coach Itoudis will be drumming home the point that a similar thing happened in Game 1, with his team leading 36-46 late in the second quarter before going on to lose 91-82. In Game 3, Hapoel will need to be focused for the entire 40 minutes; not 39, not 38, and definitely not 35.
Valencia, however, had some positive things to take away from Friday’s game, despite losing. Big men Matt Costello (21 points) and Nate Reuvers (13) both put up decent numbers again, the second game in a row they have got into double figures, and veteran playmaker Stefan Jovic made a positive impact off the bench (11 points, 5 assists).
But more needs to be demanded of Valencia’s usual go-to scorers. Jean Montero, who scored 24 points in Game 1, was held to 10 in Game 2. Perhaps aware it wasn’t his night, he became more of a playmaker by dishing 9 assists. At halftime, Montero, Chris Jones and Brancou Badio had 2 points between them.
Much of Valencia’s scoring comes from Montero and Jones, yet they sat on 4 points apiece after 30 minutes. They are two of the best guards in the EuroCup and, even if Hapoel played good defense on them in Game 2, Valencia needs them to shine. A similarly slow start for Montero and Jones in Game 3 could provide Hapoel with a ton of confidence.
Overall, Coach Martinez will like his chances of advancing to the EuroCup Finals – and of Montero and Jones bouncing back – as his squad will have the La Fonteta crowd roaring them on, but it’d take a brave person to predict who advances from this series. Either way, it’s going to be a lot of fun to see which team prevails, so make sure to tune in to EuroLeague TV on Wednesday night (20:30 CET) to find out.