By Allon Sinai

Hapoel Jerusalem looks to improve to 2-0 in the BSL and ensure it enters its Eurocup campaign on a winning streak when it visits Maccabi Kiryat Gat on Saturday night.

Jerusalem opened its local league campaign in impressive fashion last weekend, easily beating Bnei Herzliya 81-61 to build on its promising pre-season form.

Jerusalem convincingly defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv to win the preseason Winner Cup and brushed Herzliya aside despite Amar’e Stoudemire going the entire game without a field goal. The sixtime NBA All-Star played a team-high 26 minutes, but finished with just three points after missing all three of his field-goal attempts. He was impressive on the defensive end though, adding six rebounds and three blocks.

“I was pretty good,” said Stoudemire of his performance.

“Defensively I played great. Offensively I still need to find my rhythm. But the most important thing is that we got the win. I talked to one of the players on the opposing team and they said their coaching staff encouraged them to play physical with me. The referees allow that and that is different in the NBA.

“In the NBA you have to be not as physical and you have to play basketball, and here it is more of a wrestling match.”

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