The Israeli champions return to the domestic competition, starting a six-game road trip until the end of the second round. Dorsey, Bender, Caloiaro, and Atias won’t dress up
With six games left in the second round of the Israeli Winner League, all of them on the road, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv looks to keep the top spot in the standings starting on Thursday against Maccabi Rishon Le’Zion (21:00, Live on Sport5 – Channel 55). The Yellow & Blue enter the contest with 15 wins and 3 losses, while Guy Goodes’s squad battles for a playoff position holding a 7:9 record.
The Israeli champions will be happy to repeat the same result from the last meeting between the two sides, then Giannis Sfairopoulos’s squad cruised by the Oranges 105:77. The all-time record stands in favor of the Yellow & Blue, who won 70 times compared to only 10 Rishon Le’Zion victories.
The team from the Wine city strengthened their backcourt last month, adding ex Maccabi Jeremy Pargo who’s been averaging 15.3 points and 7 assists in four games since arriving. Pargo joins Akil Mitchell, who has been the Oranges’ top performer scoring 14.8 points and grabbing 9.3 rebounds per contest. On the local front, Noam Dovrat, the 18-year-old guard, comes into the matchup after setting a career-high 23 points against Bnei Herzliya in Rishon Le’Zion’s last game.
