A mid-season signing, he lifted Hapoel’s offense and played arguably the best basketball of his career
Tribute to the Champs: Yam Madar
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When Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv brought Yam Madar back to the club from FC Bayern Munich in early December, the team likely had high hopes for the impact the young point guard – a former EuroLeague Rising Star winner – could make. Now, with Hapoel having hoisted the BKT EuroCup trophy, it’s hard to imagine the team’s championship run without the mid-season addition of Madar.
It didn't take long for Madar to start shining. He had a career game already in just his second appearance since returning to the club, posting career highs in scoring and index rating with 28 points and a 41 PIR during a Round 11 road loss at Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius. But the very next week Hapoel was already on a run of six wins in seven games, which propelled the team to second place in its group.
Madar averaged 14.3 points on 56.5% three-point shooting, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals in the second half of the regular season, but he might have displayed his best basketball in the best-of-three semifinal series against Valencia Basket, a series that saw him named the Semifinals MVP.
In the first two games of the series, Madar posted 20.5 points, 6.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals, then overcame an injury to play 29 minutes in the deciding Game 3 and help Hapoel reach the EuroCup Finals.
Madar continued playing despite a knee injury, sacrificing for a team that had the chance to make history, and in a 2-0 series sweep against Dreamland Gran Canaria he averaged 13.0 points, making a total of 6 triples on 8 attempts, while posting 5.5 assists as Hapoel climbed the throne.
The math is quite simple. Before Madar’s arrival, Hapoel scored more than 82 points in four of its nine games. With Madar in the lineup, Hapoel scored more than 82 points in 11 of its 13 games. And now, both the club and the player can proudly carry the title of being a EuroCup champion.