Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv celebrated one of its biggest victories this season when it crushed visiting Gran Canaria 92-70 in front of its fans on Wednesday evening. The result not only extended the team's winning streak to seven games, but also showed the team as a true force in the competition.
Gran Canaria came to this game with the best record among all 7DAYS EuroCup teams, 11-2, which established it in a great position to earn home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. Another win in Tel Aviv could have been a massive step in that direction, but Hapoel was too strong.
"They outrebounded us, they outplayed us, outran us, so the sum up is easy; from minute zero they were a better team," Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic recognized in the press conference. "We didn’t run back, we didn’t rebound and, in the end, the third thing was so obvious: we didn’t defend one on one, but all credit goes to Hapoel for a great game."
Nobody could argue against Lakovic's statements, as Hapoel ruled from the very beginning and was up by double-digits for more than 35 minutes after it took a 15-4 lead with 4:38 remaining in the first period. From then on, the difference kept increasing to a game-high of 30 points, 69-39, late in the third, turning a potentially balanced contest into a blowout.