Maccabi Rishon Lezion defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 86:92 and made it to the Final Four finals

The Orangeers returned from a 11 point deficit in the 3rd and reached their third final of the season, this time against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Damon Simpson starred with 28 points and 20 rebounds, half a nightmare for the Paladin

Maccabi Rishon Le'Zion played a big surprise tonight at Yad Eliahu when it defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 86:92 and qualified for the Final Four finals. Guy Goodes's team will now try to make a successful dream season when they meet Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday. It will be the first time that these two teams have met at the peak of Israeli basketball since 1990/91, long before the Final Four system, when the yellows won 1: 3 in the series.

Unlike the encounter with Jerusalem in the cup final, this time the team from the wine city was not afraid of the size of the class, opened well and ran away in the first quarter. Oded Katash's team reacted swiftly, returning to a record 11 point lead in the 3rd. But just as it seemed that she was on her way to a date with the yellows in the final, the excellent Damon Simpson, Cameron Long and Nimrod Tishman managed to turn the table with a 4:22 run and take the lead back. Jerusalem went to Paladin, who never stopped missing (6 out of 20 from the field, 1 from 9 to 3), and saw how the season slipped out of her hands.

The Jerusalemites are closing 2018/19 with a win in the State Cup, but also with a European campaign that ended with a sour taste and now even with a collapse in the League's time. Maybe it was a 12-day rest that made it difficult, maybe it was a bad shooting night outside the arc (10-30) and maybe just being unable to get along with the mighty Simpson (28 points and 20 rebounds, Final Four record) Goodes' belligerent team, who is the first Final Four in the career after four defeats in the semifinals.

Maccabi Rishon Lezion won the Winner Cup, reached the final of the Israeli Cup, and now until the final of the Final Four, without three of the foreigners who opened the season and with another coach on the lines (Goodes instead of Zvika Sherf) 26 of the penalties (46 percent). Does anyone really want to eulogize her before Thursday?