Around huge demonstrations and a day of national strike against Israel, Hapoel Tel Aviv visited the recently opened Roig Arena in Valencia in EuroLeague and defeated their hosts 93-100 in an empty stadium because the club, which originally opted not to sell tickets, then decided to have the match behind closed doors, leaving the Valencia members out.
Valencia coach Pedro MartÃnez was asked if having the fans around them would have helped them achieve a comeback. We will never know, but he asked for no excuses. "We have to adapt to situations and not complain because it's useless. We would have loved to have fans, but I will not say that we lost because we were missing our fans", he said (via EuroHoops).
It wasn't the only basketball match against Israel that took place behind closed doors: on Wednesday, La Laguna Tenerife played in Basketball Champions League and defeated Bnei Herzliya, and BAXI Manresa also defeated Hapoel Jerusalem in EuroCup.
In Valencia, the Israeli team won, with Chris Jones, former Valencia player for three years, helping Hapoel lead the scoreboard all the time, with 14 points, 8 assists and 3 steals, season highs for him, despite Valencia trailing very close. This leaves Hapoel fifth in the table with 3 wins and 1 defeat, and Valencia ninth with 2/2.