In this YouTube video, Elijah Bryant reflects on playing in the inaugural EuroLeague Israeli derby between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem, a matchup that holds personal significance as the team that launched his EuroLeague career and paved his path to the NBA. The video blends live game commentary—highlighting Bryant’s scoring moves, rebounds, and free‑throw attempts—with a vlog‑style narrative where Bryant discusses the cultural weight of European derbies, the importance of identity built through consistent daily actions, and his systematic approach to scouting opponents’ tendencies. He emphasizes emotional regulation as a performance tool, noting that teams that channel emotion effectively tend to win. The segment concludes with Bryant’s personal post‑game review framework: two things he executed well (free‑throw shooting and emotion management) and one area for improvement (defending a specific opponent). Throughout, he interweaves broader life lessons, drawing parallels between basketball habits and personal growth, while also mentioning teammates, coaches, and related content creators.
Chapters
Bryant crossover dribble, lays it home. Bryant bangs the 3 home. Get those pull-up jump shots, and it's Elijah Bryant.
Hey, my son.
My father's—
he would tell you to get a jacket on too.
And he would tell me, toughen up, young bull. I had raised you to be like, scared of the cold.
Now I tell him, you're right, Dad. You're right, get a jacket.
No!
Well, back again, game day, but this time the game has a little bit more history behind it, or meaning, starting with the team we're playing was actually the team that gave me my first EuroLeague experience or opportunity. So I will forever be grateful for them, and they also gave me the opportunity to go to the NBA, and that is Maccabi. Now when it comes to Maccabi versus Hapoel, Hapoel versus Maccabi, it's a derby where What does that mean? The two teams in the city facing each other, and derbies in Europe are something different. You have many different derbies across Europe. You have the Greek Derby, Panathinaikos versus Olympiacos, and we saw the emotion that was exemplified last year that can sometimes spill off the court from owners, from coaches, from management, from players. But that's what makes Europe Europe. What you have to understand about these derbies is that these fans, it's not just going to see their team win. This is a religion for them. This is something they live and die by. So when they come out in public and are mad at you for losing or showing tons of energy for winning. Now you understand. You have the Istanbul Derby with Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahçe, and we already know the emotion involved in that. So now you get the importance of the derby. Well, this derby specifically is the first time in EuroLeague the Israeli Derby is happening. Yes, it's in a different country, but it's still— history is being written on this channel, from our first win in Barça and then now to the first EuroLeague Israeli derby. Just now that we're sitting here remembering the time of me playing with Maccabi and going through the derbies, a lot of you keep asking me, how do you do it? How do you get there? I'm not special. I'm not anything special. What I will say is your identity doesn't come from what you want. It comes from what you repeatedly do. And that's exactly what I've done. I've had faith and I've been consistent in my system. So I believe in myself and on a daily basis I do what the person that I want to be would do. So for you, if you want to be an NBA player, if you want to be a real estate agent, if you want to be a doctor, What would a doctor do today? A doctor would probably study his books. What would a real estate agent do? Probably have an advisor they learn from. What would a basketball player do? Probably not eat junk food, probably not stay up all night so they can train more. So I think sometimes we make it harder than it has to be. Reverse engineer. What do you want to be and what are the actions and steps that that person would do to be that person? And do that today.
Elijah Bryant. Ah, it's Elijah Bryant.
And obviously a big engine to their team is Tamir Blatt, who plays with a bunch of ball screens, shoots more threes than twos. Obviously I need to watch him and watch his action. I've been playing with him for a while, even with this coach Oded. So same system, bunch of pick and rolls, opposite big in the dunker. On the roll. So very system team. Again, like we said in the last videos, I'm not watching this to get something special. I'm just trying to see tendencies. I'm trying to see last shots they felt comfortable with. And yeah, sometimes the hardest player to guard is not knowing their tendencies. So obviously very blessed to play in the EuroLeague for the past, you know, 7 years or so. So you know kind of what everyone likes to do. So when you get new players who come into the league, it's kind of like beginner's luck for them. No one really knows them. So they're able to get people on their go-to move, you know, like I know Shane, his go-to move is, you know, going off the screen left, right. Personnel and tendencies is a big key to be able to guard someone really well. I remember Jrue Holiday telling me this, and we talked about this before, is he's always playing tendencies and forcing the player to do stuff that they don't want to do more often than not. Side note, O'Shea Brissett, who plays for Maccabi, also has a YouTube channel and he makes really good videos, so go and check him out. I think basketball is a great metaphor to life. In the basketball game, you're gonna have ups, you're gonna have downs. But if you notice, the team that allows their emotion to fuel them and not fail them is a team that usually wins. So if you notice, the team was talking to the ref the most, usually the team losing. Emotion is energy in motion, and your emotion glues you to that reality. And remember, at the end of these videos, every game is an opportunity to get better. Every day in life is an opportunity to get better. So after each game, whether Israeli League, EuroLeague, NBA game, 2 things I did well, 1 thing I can get better at, because every day is an opportunity to grow, not only on the court, off the court.
Let's go. The EuroLeague touches down in Sofia, Bulgaria. They got another EuroLeague champion they picked up, Elijah Bryant. Bryant, the crossover dribble, lays it home. Elijah Bryant goes down the lane again and he lays the teardrop. Quickly. Oh, beautiful pass there. Jones finds Bryant and he muscles his one home. Bryant bangs the three home. Gannett drives, gets the nice one-handed off the backboard. Bryant comes away with the rebound. Bryant fouled on the way to the basket, he's going to shoot 2. Game rounds 1 and 2 to get round 3. Elijah Bryant answers with less than a minute left. There he Echoes from Elijah Bryant misses that final jumper.
So like I said, these videos aren't just going to be about the wins, it's going to be about the losses too. And unfortunately tonight we lost. And as you know, as always, 2 to 1. So 2 things I did well, 1 thing I can work on. 2 things I did well: first thing, I hit all my free throws. Another thing I did well is managing my emotions during the game, not getting too high, not getting too low. And one thing I could have done better, play better defense on Dalton. I think he had 0 points in the third quarter or the whole game, and then the fourth quarter he had 13. Hats off to him, way to stay ready. That's a whole nother story, is you never know when your time's coming, so stay ready. So good game for him. Um, but the biggest thing is just those are the hardest players to guard necessarily because you're playing tendencies and he's a new player in EuroLeague. Obviously he's playing in the NBA, but now I know him. But good game. And as always, faith plus consistency.
