By Johnny Askounis/ [email protected]
After considering various options, Israel’s Winner League is set to suspend the Playoffs 2025. Later Monday, the executive committee will decide if the 2024-25 season will end without a champion or both Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem will share the title.
A best-of-three series between Maccabi and Hapoel was tied at 1-1 before the initial decision to temporarily suspend the Finals due to security reasons.
Game 3 was scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim Arena on Sunday. The league has since evaluated other options, such as relocating the contest to a different city and playing behind closed doors.
Foreign players of Maccabi have reportedly already left Israel to return to their respective home countries, confirming a widely accepted situation about a premature end to the season.
The team coached by Oded Kattash was seeking a third straight league championship and 58th overall, after winning the State Cup and Winner League Cup earlier in the season. On the opposite end, the team guided by Yonatan Alon was on track for a third league championship, after 2015 and 2017.
Winner League Playoffs
Quarterfinals (best of five)
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv – Ironi Hai Motors Ness Ziona 3-0 (96-73, 83-65, 98-75)
Bnei PenLink Herzeliya – Hapoel Netanel Holon 2-3 (78-86, 99-94, 94-86, 96-95, 81-83)
Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv – Hapoel Gilboa Galil 3-0 (103-95, 93-78, 86-72)
Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem – Maccabi Ramat Gan 3-0 (81-58, 102-100, 87-61)
Semifinals (best of three)
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv – Hapoel Netanel Holon 2-0 (90-81, 85-73)
Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv – Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 1-2 (88-85, 87-98, 83-86)
Finals (best of three)
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv – Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem 1-1 (91-88, 74-77)
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net