2008–09 Israeli Basketball Super League

The Israeli Basketball Super League (BSL) 2008-2009 season was the 55th season of the top basketball league in Israel. The season began on 26 October 2008 and ended on 21 May 2009. Maccabi Tel Aviv won its 48th league title, defeating Maccabi Haifa Heat 85–72 in the final. The defending champion was Hapoel Holon.

2008-2009 Israeli Basketball Super League season
League	Israeli Basketball Super League
Sport	Basketball
Duration	26 October 2008 - 21 May 2009
Number of games	158
Number of teams	12
TV partner(s)	Sport 5, Israel 10
Regular Season
League champions	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Runners-up	Hapoel Jerusalem
Top scorer	Luis Flores (Hapoel Holon)
Relegated to Ligat Leumit	Elitzur Kiryat Ata Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel
Final four
Champions	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Runners-up	Maccabi Haifa Heat
Finals MVP	Carlos Arroyo (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

Each out of the 12 participating teams played 22 regular league games, one home game and one away game against each other team. The top eight teams qualified to the playoff, where they played best-of-5 series decided by the rankings at the end of the regular season (first against eighth, second against seventh and so on).

The four last ranked team competed in a best-of-5 series relegation playoff, where Elitzur Kiryat Ata and Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel lost and were relegated to Liga Leumit. They will be replaced by Maccabi Elitzur Netanya and Hapoel Afula, who qualified from Liga Leumit.

Regular season

Team Pld W L PF PA Diff Pts 1. Maccabi Tel Aviv 22 19 3 2002 1659 +343 41 2. Hapoel Jerusalem 22 17 5 1962 1828 +134 39 3. Maccabi Haifa 22 14 8 1734 1651 +83 36 4. Hapoel Holon 22 13 9 1811 1764 +47 35 5. Gilboa/Galil 22 13 9 1728 1672 +56 35 6. Bnei HaSharon 22 13 9 1713 1696 +17 35 7. Ironi Nahariya 22 10 12 1790 1740 +50 32 8. Ironi Ashkelon 22 8 14 1769 1797 -28 30 9. Ironi Ramat Gan 22 8 14 1707 1861 -154 30 10. Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel 22 7 15 1706 1788 -82 29 11. Maccabi Rishon LeZion 22 7 15 1769 1903 -134 29 12. Elitzur Kiryat Ata 22 3 19 1688 2020 -332 25

Qualification to Playoffs Qualification to Relegation Playoffs Pld - Played; W - Won; L - Lost; PF - Points for; PA - Points against; Diff - Difference; Pts - Points.

	BNS	EKA	HPG	HPH	HPJ	IAS	INA	IRG	MGS	MHA	MRL	MTA
Bnei HaSharon		82-67	71-66	76-87	77-73	74-91	80-76	88-78	96-75	97-78	90-92	83-75
Elitzur Kiryat Ata	79-74		63-84	68-104	72-117	71-75	87-80	82-85	80-101	76-86	93-91	56-88
Gilboa/Galil	74-54	86-75		58-64	87-90	70-68	84-72	79-84	77-72	88-83	101-87	64-87
Hapoel Holon	83-52	83-79	89-103		90-69	85-76 [1]	77-75	93-67	85-89	75-82	107-106	72-91
Hapoel Jerusalem	92-85	103-94	81-74	91-81		85-82	93-92	105-90	101-86	100-78	96-74	91-77
Ironi Ashkelon	81-76	96-74	78-79	94-84	78-87		91-87	85-91	73-68	77-84	80-88	75-99
Ironi Nahariya	65-67	103-73	90-73	74-76	82-67	84-90		81-74	89-80	61-71	77-84	85-102
Ironi Ramat Gan	68-77	87-77	72-81	85-70	108-92	66-81	64-79		81-73	72-89	72-73	56-102
Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel	68-79	93-81	68-65	63-74	77-87	76-70	90-96	89-90		60-76	87-76	73-77
Maccabi Haifa	70-75	92-75	72-79	90-71	73-80	79-68	57-76	94-74	77-69		75-68	79-76
Maccabi Rishon LeZion	78-95	108-86	63-86	71-79	74-81	77-69	92-93	68-57	77-88	54-81		93-96
Maccabi Tel Aviv	77-65	102-80	89-70	105-82	97-81	97-86	84-78	103-86	81-61	80-68	114-75

Playoff

The higher ranked team hosts games 1, 3 and 5 (if necessary). The lower ranked team hosts games 2 and 4 (if necessary).

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	Game 1 25–26 April	Game 2 3–4 May	Game 3 7 May	Game 4 10 May	Game 5 14 May
Maccabi Tel Aviv (1)	3–1	Ironi Ashkelon (8)	95–96 (OT)	86–69	92–69	97–65
Hapoel Jerusalem (2)	3–0	Ironi Nahariya (7)	78–76	92–79	88–80
Maccabi Haifa (3)	3–1	Bnei HaSharon (6)	66–69	75–71	74–61	87–68
Hapoel Holon (4)	2–3	Galil/Gilboa (5)	74–81	63–61	79–78 (OT)	55–77	80–87(OT)

Final four

Main article: 2008–2009 Israeli Final Four

	Semifinals 19 May				Final 21 May
	Hapoel Jerusalem	93
	Maccabi Haifa	98
					Maccabi Tel Aviv	85
					Maccabi Haifa	72
	Maccabi Tel Aviv	72
	Gilboa/Galil	70
					Third place
					Hapoel Jerusalem	96
					Gilboa/Galil	101

Relegation playoff

The higher ranked team hosts games 1, 3 and 5 (if necessary). The lower ranked team hosts games 2 and 4 (if necessary).

Team #1	Agg.	Team #2	Game 1 26 April	Game 2 3 May	Game 3 7 May
Ironi Ramat Gan (9)	3–0	Elitzur Kiryat Ata (12)	83–76	96–79	100–87
Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel (10)	0–3	Maccabi Rishon LeZion (11)	62–72	67–81	64–90

Elitzur Kiryat Ata and Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel were relegated to Liga Leumit.

Awards

The 2008–2009 Basketball Super League Season Awards were granted during the Israeli Basketball Super League Administration Gala Dinner on May 16 to the players who stood out the most during the regular season and the playoff.^[2] The MVP awards for the best player and coach of the season were given before the final game had been played.

BSL 2008–2009 MVP

• Doron Perkins (Maccabi Haifa Heat)

BSL 2008–2009 Final MVP

• Carlos Arroyo (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

Coach of the season

• Avi Ashkenazi (Maccabi Haifa Heat)

All-BSL Team

• Doron Perkins (Maccabi Haifa Heat)
• Luis Flores (Hapoel Holon)
• Omri Casspi (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
• Lior Eliyahu (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
• Omar Sneed (Hapoel Jerusalem)

Best 6th man

• Davon Jefferson (Maccabi Haifa Heat)

Best newcomer

• Gal Mekel (Gilboa/Galil)

Most improving player

• Uri Kukia (Hapoel Holon)

Best defensive player

• Brian Randle (Gilboa/Galil)

See also

• Israeli Basketball State Cup 2008-09