Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv took a 1-0 lead in the Playoff Finals when they beat Ironi Nahariya 90-70 in Yad Eliyahu. Nahariya, still without the injured Adrian Pledger, made it a very close game in the first half. They ended the first quarter 25-20 up with an Oren Ben Hemo three pointers from downtown.
The second quarter was a private duel between Nikola Vujcic (19 pts in the first half) & Eric Campbell (17 pts). Maccabi led 44-40 at half time.
But the tired visitors, after a gruelling semi final serries with Galil Elyon, could not stand the pace and saw Maccabi increase the lead to 60-47 and 70-56 at the end of the third. Finally Maccabi won by 20 pts.
Vujcic was the MVP with 29 pts, 14 rbds & 3 assists. An excellent game also for Yoav Saffar with 21 pts & 8 rbds.
