Hapoel Holon recorded its eighth consecutive victory in all competitions yesterday (Wednesday), 88:96 over Hapoel Haifa – but with all due respect to the beautiful victory, the focus at the end of the game was captured by the incident between Stefanos Dadas and Sefi Shemesh, after which the Holon coach was removed and is expected to stand trial.
Dadas was furious at a whistleblower for Maxim de Zhao’s offense, and erupted at the judge – claiming, among other things, that he was racist and that Shemesh had told him to “return to Greece” – a statement that Sun denied outright. “I have great respect for Israel and the country, my family here,” Dadas said at the opening of the press conference. “I like when people criticize me, even when they laugh at me on Twitter, but to tell me to go back to Greece? No one can tell me that. They told me to go back to Athens, and to be honest I’m from Thessaloniki in general.”
Dads continued: “Eventually I’m sorry for what happened, and it started because I did not understand the whistle for De Zhao. Suleiman Braimo and Tyson Thomas do it all the time. They gave him a fourth on it, it’s unbelievable. But I do not want to take the The focus from the team’s victory, I tried to wake the team, and sometimes these tricks help as you can see. “
But regardless of the dismissal of Dadas, or perhaps actually Am, Holon provided a fourth quarter of 13:25 and decided the game, with Amit Sharaf on the lines (again) and Dadas in the stands. “I’m happy with the eighth win in a row, we’ve been able to overcome the crisis we’ve been in, there’s no doubt we’m more confident in ourselves,” Dadas commented, complimenting the unexpected heroes of the evening: “I congratulate Amit on this win. “Vanson was not on the floor and that gave him a lot of continuous time on the floor. He scored 9 of 11 from the field because we had a good space.”
Without Johnson, who did not register, Workman presented one of his best games in Israel in general: 21 points (career record) and a lot of presence on both sides of the field. “I was trying to take a step forward and get into the leader box that Chris Johnson usually fills,” said the nationalized forward. “I knew that if I concentrated on defense and leadership things would come. It’s fun to play more minutes and I’m glad I did well and we won.”
Another issue that will concern Holon soon is the issue of Tire Maggie. Yesterday, after three games away, he signed on for Johnson, finishing as the leading scorer alongside Workman with 21 of his own. Dads and management have quite a few headaches in this regard, as a player at Maggie’s level did not come to play only in Europe.
“We still have to see what happens with Tyros, he was not good against Minsk and that’s why I gave him 30 minutes in the cup,” Dadas said. “We succeeded without him and his ability was a statement for him and I need to think better what I do. Now it’s my headache, because there are five good strangers, and it is impossible for everyone to be happy. But we must not forget that the team is above all, I have no personal preference for anyone “Sometimes someone is less satisfied but there is nothing to do. I do not like it but it is a situation.”
At the same time, in Holon, most of the conditions were agreed with Antonis Coniaris, but currently he cannot enter Israel due to the state’s ban on bringing in foreign citizens – and this now prevents the completion of the deal.
