Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv won the National Cup for the 33rd time, beating Maccabi Givat Shmuel 96-83. Captain Gur Shelef lifted the Cup for the first time, after it was presented to him by State President Moshe Katsav in front of 10,000 spectators in Yad Eliyahu.
But David Blatt’s players had to work hard before making sure of lifting the cup for the sixth year in a row. Givat Shmuel, led by Charles Minlend led all through the first quarter with the final score of 27-19. Nikola Vujcic gave Maccabi its first lead 30-29. Givat Shmuel regained the lead 39-34 and at the break led 40-39.
Their last lead was 57-55. Maccabi, inspired by MVP Derrick Sharp, ran 9-0 and at the end of the third period had a 64-59 lead which was increased to 86-70 in the final quarter. Sharp scored 18 pts (4 triplets) and had 3 decisive steals. An excellent game also for Marcus Goree, with 18 pts & 9 rbds.
