Coach Itoudis's charges finished the game on a 20-3 tear
Hapoel survives scare to sink stubborn ASVEL in comeback win
Spielbericht
3 Lesezeit
Regular Season
Round 14 of 38
Regular Season
Hapoel IBI Tel AvivHTA
8780
LDLC ASVEL VilleurbanneASV
Overview
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“I need to see a lot of improvement, but it’s not for the TV,” said Dimitris Itoudis after Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv’s comeback win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne on Thursday night.
Clearly, the head coach has a NSFW message for his team that he doesn’t seem suitable for broadcast, which isn’t surprising given the nature of the victory. His league-leading team came back from 11 down, with a stunning 17-0 run in the final 6 minutes to regain the advantage. Eventually, they escaped with the 87-80 win.
Due to Hapoel’s position atop the standings and ASVEL’s place at the bottom, the hosts came into the game as clear favorites. However, that wasn’t evident in this contest, with the visitors putting up a strong fight and almost getting over the line before the aforementioned collapse.
“ASVEL’s record doesn’t tell the full story for this team; they play hard for 40 minutes and compete every night,” said Hapoel center Dan Oturu.
Oturu played a starring role for the Israeli team, adding 7 boards to his 18-point scoring performance. The American big was pleased by the spirit his team showed down the stretch.
“It was a tough game. We got down but were able to stick with it and stay true to ourselves, fighting it out against a tough team,” said Oturu. “With 6 minutes left, we were down 11. Six minutes is an eternity, it’s a lifetime. Coach just said to stick together and stick with it. ASVEL is an unpredictable team, so you have to stay focused for the full 40 minutes against a team like this.”
Antonio Blakeney and Johnathan Motley also bolstered their team with 16 points each. The result was especially tough on the excellent Nando De Colo, who kept his team in the clash until the very end, recording 20 points in the crushing loss.
Despite coming into the game with a 9-4 record, Hapoel had a point to prove after a disappointing loss to Real Madrid last time out. Though it will be pleased to increase its win total to double figures, the nature of the hard-fought battle will be cause for concern. Hapoel will have a chance to address that next week when it faces Virtus Bologna.
Meanwhile, the now 3-11 ASVEL will hope to recover from the disheartening fourth-quarter collapse when it faces Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv next Thursday.
