John Holland displayed again an outstanding performance in the same court where he silenced 20,000 fans a year-and-a-half ago.
Hapoel's Holland felt sweet again in Belgrade
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Facing two important absences in Tomer Ginat and J'Covan Brown for their Round 12 game against Umana Reyer Venice on Wednesday, the rest of Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv's players knew they needed to give extra to hold onto second place in Group A.
Among those who aced that mission was forward John Holland, who had an amazing performance in limited playing time, scoring 20 points in less than 18 minutes without missing a single shot.
Holland went for 3-for-3 on two-pointers, 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and 2-for-2 from the free throw line. He also added 8 rebounds, good for a PIR of 26 that helped his team take a solid 100-81 victory against its Italian opponent.
Holland was especially important in the second quarter, which started with Hapoel trailing 17-22. He took the reins and scored an eye-popping 14 points in just 6 minutes and 14 seconds, helping Hapoel regain a 39-36 lead before committing his third foul and leaving the floor. Nonetheless, he had boosted Hapoel toward big leads the rest of the game. He was not needed so much in the second half, but showed up to convert the last bucket of the game, hitting a triple put Hapoel into triple digits.
His performance looked like a copycat display from a year-and-a-half ago, when Holland became a hero for Frutti Extra Bursaspor at the same place, Stark Arena, in the 2021-22 EuroCup Eighthfinals game against Partizan Belgrade. In that game, Holland also scored the last basket of the last period, finishing with 17 points, drilling 4 triples -out of five attempts- and going perfect from the line for a PIR of 21.
Holland lived a highlight moment that day when he converted an off-balance three-pointer with 7.1 seconds to force overtime at 84-84 in front of almost 20,000 Serbian fans. Bursaspor ended up winning that game 95-103, giving Holland one of his best memories in this competition.
That victory was just the prelude of an unforgettable postseason in which Bursaspor, despite never having home-cour advantage, eliminated another two contenders on its way to the EuroCup Final. In the quarterfinals, it was Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, who lost to Bursaspor 83-85. And in the semifinals it was Morabanc Andorra, who fell 68-85 on its home court. Alas, Bursaspor could not overcome Virtus Segafredo Bologna and finished as that season's EuroCup runner-up.
Looking back to those days and Holland's performance in Belgrade on Wednesday night, don't be surprised that many Hapoel fans would dream of a such successful journey in the EuroCup this season.