Here a short explanation on the system of games in the
Israeli Basketball League written by Scott Granowitz, who knows more than
anyone in the U.S.A about Israeli basketball.
This is how the Israeli League works:
In the first stage, each of the ten 1st division Israeli teams plays each other twice (home and away) for a total of 18 games.
At the end of the 18 games begins the playoffs.
In the quarter finals playoff the 6th ranked team plays vs. the 3rd ranked team, the 5th plays vs. the 4th (3 games series), and the 1st and 2nd ranked teams enter the playoffs only in the semi-finals. They will play the winners of the quarter finals (3 games series).
The finals is a 5 games series. the winner of the finals is the Israeli Champion.
The teams that finished in 9th and 10th place in the 1st division get relegated to the 2nd division for the following season. The top two teams from the 2nd division get promoted to the 1st division for the following season.
In European basketball, some clubs play in both their local national league and an international European competition (the EuroLeague or the Ronchetti Cup). In Israel, the top five clubs from the previous season earn the right to play in such European competitions the following season. The Israeli champion plays in the EuroLeague, while the next best four teams earn the right to represent Israel in the Ronchetti Cup (not as prestigious as the EuroLeague).
In addition to the Israeli league schedule, there is also something called the Israeli Cup. The Israeli Cup is a round-robin style competition where teams from the 1st and 2nd division square off. Basically the matchups/seedings are picked at the beginning of the season. In the 1st, 2nd, and sometimes 3rd round, a team plays its opponent twice (home and away). The team with the winning point differential from both games combined moves onto the next round. When the Israeli Cup is at the "Final 4" round, the games move to a neutral venue where it is now single elimination (like the NCAA Tournament).
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 74 - Maccabi Raanana 72
Tel-Aviv: Arbutina 17, Amachree 16, Barnes 16, Harazi 10, Carlson 8, Balentine 5, Gordon 2.
Raanana: Hall 26, Johnson 12, Haelyon 10, Dinerman 9, Stosic 5, Natacho 4, Kolodny 4, Zeevi 2.
Maccabi Ramat-Hen 75 - Elizur Holon 75
No overtime !! cause it's only a first match out of 2.
Ramat-Hen: Voigt 26, Edwards 20, Grinboim 10, Van Embricqs 10, Kesler 3, Kindler 2, Karni 2.
Holon: Hall 23, Cosic 18, Johnson 15, Pesic 8, Brachkova 5, Asulin 4, Arbel 2.
Bney Yehuda 85 - Elizur Ramla 50
Bney Yehuda: Gant 19, Ford 18, Boutenko 16, Klein 10, Haleli 8, Rozova 6, Zakula 5, Meron 2.
Ramla: Randall 22, Lovelace 9, Mkhidz 7, Cohen 5, Kutlu 4, Rom 2, Morhova 1.
Galil Elyon 76 - Ramat-Hasharon 75
Galil: Record 20, Ragos 16, Tanchelson 14, Karoleva 12, Moore 11, Scnepper 3.
Ramat-Hasharon: Varbanova 20, Gourevich 16, Mansfield 13, Maoz 11, Suez 8, Goren 2, Udoka 2.
The second matches will take place on December 3rd.
Information reprinted with permission of Shlomi Peri.