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Breakdown: Joventut Badalona vs. Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv

Breakdown: Joventut Badalona vs. Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv

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6 Mins read

Geoff Gillingham

Breakdown: Joventut Badalona vs. Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv

Two teams with realistic hopes of going all the way in this year's 7DAYS EuroCup come head-to-head in the quarterfinals, as Joventut Badalona hosts Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv at Palau Olimpic de Badalona on Wednesday night. Both sides finished the regular season with 13-5 records, yet Joventut comes into this fixture as the second seed from Group A, whereas Hapoel finished the season in the third spot in Group B. In the eighthfinals, Joventut downed the London Lions 89-78 and Hapoel beat Umana Reyer Venice 90-80.

Plenty of star talent on display

Fans of Joventut and Hapoel both know how good their team's rosters are and this quarterfinal matchup has all the hallmarks of a classic playoff tie. On the one side, Wednesday night's hosts can call upon a whole host of key contributors, including Ante Tomic, Joel Parra and Kyle Guy, whereas four Hapoel players – J'Covan Brown (twice), Jalen Hoard (twice), Jordan McRae (three times) and Chinanu Onuaku – were named MVP of the Round a combined total of eight times during the 18-game regular season.

In the eighthfinals, the 36-year-old Tomic used his experience to get Joventut over the line against London with a team-high 16 points, all of which came in the second half, plus 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 8 fouls drawn. Tomic was joined in double figures for points by five teammates – Henry Ellenson (14 points), Guy (13), Andres Feliz (13), Parra (12) and Guillem Vives (11) – in a sign that slowing down Joventut will not be an easy task for Hapoel.

Yet, the same can be said about Danny Franco's squad. Hapoel also had six players finish their game against Reyer with 10 points or more: Xavier Munford (13), Bar Timor (13), Brown (12), Onuaku (11), Tomer Ginat (10) and Idan Zalmanson (10). You may have noticed that McRae and Hoard, who earned MVP of the Round honors a combined five times, are not among those six. Well, that just goes to show the plethora of options available from a Hapoel perspective, as McRae and Hoard scored 8 and 3 points, respectively, in the eighthfinals.

Joventut at home vs. Hapoel on the road

There are plenty of similarities between Joventut and Hapoel, and one such resemblance is their records at home. Both sides went 8-1 at home during the regular season before winning on their home floor in the eighthfinals, but now Joventut has the luxury of being Wednesday's hosts, given its higher seeding. Hapoel, like Joventut, went 5-4 on its travels in the regular season, so it will have to try and acclimatize to Badalona as quickly as possible if it is to come away with a positive result.

Fortunately for the Israeli club, it is expected that over a thousand fans will make the trip to Spain to watch Hapoel take on Joventut, so it should feel as close to a home game as can possibly be. Earlier this season, the Hapoel fans turned out in force during road games at Paris Basketball, Veolia Towers Hamburg and London, with the team going 2-1 in those fixtures. Another key element to bear in mind is that Hapoel is 3-1 on its travels in 2023, but that said, Joventut has not tasted defeat in Badalona since November 29, 2022, when it lost to Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse in Round 6.

Keys to the game

All over the court, there are fascinating battles that are set to take place. Joventut may be without one of its main playmakers in Pau Ribas, who remains out injured, but Guy became more of a ball handler against London and provided a team-high 7 assists in the win. Hapoel, meanwhile, can lean on the player who has made things tick all season, J'Covan Brown, who had 8 helpers in his squad's victory against Reyer. They both know how to light up from three-point range, too. Although Guy and Brown are unlikely to be going up against one another directly, with Munford likely to be on Guy and Vives attempting to keep Brown quiet, the team that limits the opposition's playmaker the most may end up in a great position to win the game.

At the 3 position, the matchup between Parra of Joventut and McRae of Joventut should be fascinating. At just 23 years old, Parra has taken a big step forward in his promising career and established himself as one of the EuroCup's best players. McRae, however, is nine years older at 32 and played a total of 123 games in the NBA in his career, so he will be looking to use his experience and quality to keep Parra as quiet as possible. Likewise, Parra will know that there are plenty of eyes on this tie, which makes this the perfect opportunity for him to truly announce himself to the European basketball community at large.

Finally, two centers with very contrasting styles are ready to battle in the paint: Tomic of Joventut and Onuaku of Hapoel. Tomic, a veteran playmaking big man, knows every trick of the trade and has his eyes set on a return to the EuroLeague, where he made a total of 283 appearances across 11 seasons with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. On the other side of things, there's Onuaku, a player who hit the ground running after joining Hapoel ahead of Round 5 and uses his force to get to the rim. The finesse of Tomic against the brute strength of Onuaku – it's hard to know which way this will swing, but it's yet another fascinating storyline to follow in what should be a must-watch playoff game in this year's EuroCup.