The 25-point victory over Joventut shined a light on plenty of positives
Coach Itoudis has already made an impact at Hapoel
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It’s been a busy few weeks for Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv since Dimitris Itoudis was appointed as head coach. Soon after, the team acquired big man Marcus Bingham, then signed guard Yam Madar and finally announced that star center Johnathan Motley was returning to the team.
Itoudis's coaching and the play of Bingham and Madar alongside guards Patrick Beverley and Antonio Beverley were all key as Hapoel roared past Joventut Badalona 95-70 on Wednesday night at Samakov Arena in Bulgaria. It was Itoudis's – and Bingham's – second game and in their first, the team faltered late to lose last week against ratiopharm Ulm. They learned a lesson from that and, with the help of Madar, corrected it.
"I think we were a much better team than the first game we played," Itoudis said in the post-game press conference. "We tried to create problems for ourselves again in the third quarter when we had a negative run. I said to the team at that moment that they need to help me not to use the timeout like we did against Ulm and then I didn't have a timeout in the end in a clutch moment. And then Yam Madar’s steal and three pointer at that moment helped the team get over this negative run. And we went back to us in a smooth way and the game plan was there."
Hapoel led by as many as 20 early in the third quarter before Joventut heated up behind Ante Tomic and went on a 0-11 run. That’s when Madar stood tall with a three-pointer and an assist to Tomer Ginat to kill the Joventut momentum. A minute later, he knocked down 2 free throws, scored a fast-break layup thanks to a Bingham rebound and outlet pass and then stripped Keye van der Vuurst for a layup and a 69-52 lead. Joventut would never challenge again.
Madar was just one of the players Itoudis praised after the game: "We are happy for AB [Blakeney], that the calls were for him. He managed to find his positions and make some shots for himself. Pat is playing very serious. He leads the team. Yam brought a different dimension to the game… Bingham, it looks like he’s been playing with the team a long period. His adjustment has been quick."
Just as quickly as he heaped praise, Itoudis started to get excited about what this team could become.
"We are trying to build on this and see what works good. For us, the biggest enemy is time. We don't have that much time between the games that the results matter to put some new things. We added a lot of things and also players are very concentrated, it’s not easy for them to learn all things…" he noted, though the clear understanding is that when the players all learn the new system – and Motley is back in uniform – Hapoel’s potential is vast.
"We have a hell of a coach," said Beverley after the game. "He's been getting us prepared since he's got here and he’s very detailed, he’s all about the small things, all about the right things. Our biggest thing was to come in and try to rebound, you know, try to win the rebound battle and we did that and that led to early offense."
Indeed, Hapoel outrebounded Joventut 33-30 despite the fact that both of its centers, Bruno Caboclo and Bingham, fouled out in a combined 26 minutes. It was a team effort as all 12 Hapoel players grabbed at least 1 rebound and no one had more than 4.
Hapoel played most of the game with three-guard lineups and that speed and versatility were too much for Joventut. Blakeney led all scorers with 20 points; Beverley stood tall with 15 points and 6 assists; Madar contributed 9 points, 4 assists and 2 steals and Joe Ragland was good for 8 points, 6 assists and 2 steals.
The team’s next two games are against the teams neck and neck with it in the standings, Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius and Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul. If Hapoel continues to take on more of Itoudis's teachings and gets stronger with Motley back, the rest of Group A had best be prepared.