Israellycool

Tonight is the Euroleague championship basketball game, and once again, the mighty Maccabi Tel Aviv will be trying to make Euroleague basketball history by winning its 6th title and thus becoming the second among the most-crowned teams ever in Europe.

Its opponent, CSKA Moscow, (who defeated Maccabi in the corresponding game of 2006 as I liveblogged here) is also aiming for its 6th title and is favorite to win after dominating the season. But Maccabi showed great character to come back from an 18-point, first-half deficit to defeat Montepaschi Siena 92-85 in the last game.

My heart tells me Maccabi, but my head says CSKA.

Updates:

9:10PM: Does anyone know of any website from which I can watch the game?

9:12PM: Here’s a preview of the game:

11:00PM: We have a thriller, folks. At half-time, it’s Maccabi 41, CSKA 42.

11:50PM: It’s all over folks. CSKA 91, Maccabi 77.

A few days ago, I posted about the ostensibly anti-Semitic remarks from former NBA basketballer Micheal “Sugar” Ray Richardson. Given the choice of language he used, plus the fact that he used a derogatory term for gay men, I suspected anti-Semitism at play. But Israellycool readers felt it was just a case of poor wording, with some even suggesting he admired Jews.

Looks like I may have been wrong, and you all right. At least according to NBA Commissioner, David Stern, who states that not only is Richardson not anti-Semitic, but some of his best friends children are Jewish.

David Stern has always said that his hardest job in 23 years as NBA commissioner was kicking Micheal Ray Richardson out the league for drug abuse in 1986.

The Commish also happens to be one of the most prominent Jews in sports, if not the United States.

So if I wanted to hear anyone’s reaction to Micheal Ray’s comments about Jews this week, it was Stern’s.

“My reaction is that if I were the commissioner [of the CBA], for the inappropriate and insensitive remark he made about gays, I would have suspended him,” Stern said by phone Friday.

“But I have no doubt that Micheal Ray is not anti-Semitic. I know that he’s not. A number of his children happen to be Jewish. He has a former Jewish wife. He may have exercised very poor judgment [in what he said], but that does not reflect Micheal Ray Richardson’s feelings about Jews.”

Marc Stein, from whose blog I found the above quote, adds the following fact:

Let me add a little-known fact. The first country Richardson played in after his banishment from the NBA? You guessed it: Sugar had a brief stint in Israel with the tiny club Hapoel Ramat Gan.

So looks like I may have been wrong. Hey, it can happen, you know.

Former NBA backetballer Micheal “Sugar” Ray Richardson has shown his not-so-sweet side - dribbling from the mouth, committing a few foul language plays, and throwing up a few anti-Semitic alley oops for good measure.

“I’ve got big-time lawyers,” Richardson said, according to the Times Union. “I’ve got big-time Jew lawyers.”

And you’re going to need them. You’re going to need them.

When told by the reporters that the comment could be offensive to people because it plays to the stereotype that Jews are crafty and shrewd, he responded with, “Are you kidding me? They are. They’ve got the best security system in the world. Have you ever been to an airport in Tel Aviv?

An airport in Tel Aviv? Like there’s more than one?

They’re real crafty. Listen, they are hated all over the world, so they’ve got to be crafty.”

At 6-foot-5, I’m guessing he has big feet. Which means he must have a helluva huge mouth.

And he continued, “They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean?” he said. “Which I think is great. I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with it.

That’s a double negative, so what he’s really saying is that he thinks there is something wrong with it. He’s also saying he can’t talk real good.

If you look in most professional sports, they’re run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they’re run by Jewish. It’s not a knock, but they are some crafty people.”

No, that is a knock.

And anti-Semitism is so back in style.

Update: Some commenters do not think he was being anti-Semitic. Feel free to weigh in.

A hypothetical question….your team - Maccabi Tel Aviv - is playing in the Euroleague championship game, televised on Israeli television at 9.30pm Israel time. You have been looking forward to the game all day, and even leave work early to “get in to the spirit of things.”

Not long before the game begins, you are duly informed that your wife’s favorite show - Desperate Housewives - is being televised at the same time. What do you do?

If you are me, you realize that you won’t be watching the game on television tonight, and you frantically look for a live video stream on the internet. Luckily, a reader in the UK has left a link to a live stream in the comments to a previous post.

However, after registering to view the game, you are greeted with a message “This game is only available to viewers in the UK and Ireland.” Now what do you do?

If you are me, you begin thinking about which of your friends won’t mind a last minute phone call, requesting you watch the game at their house!. But luckily, the aforementioned reader is on Skype, and is very tech savvy. He finds a way to relay via his IP (he lives in England), and presto! You are watching the game on your computer. Thanks Gadget Doctor!

Let the liveblogging begin..

9.40PM: Maccabi out to a flyer, scoring the first 7 points. Maccabi 7 CSKA 0

9.43PM: CSKA claw their way back, scoring the next 7 points. Maccabi 7 CSKA 0

9.50PM: Quarter time, and the game is tied. Maccabi should have gone into the second quarter leading, but Maccabi’s Willie Solomon did not run down the clock, and allowed CSKA the last shot of the quarter. Maccabi 18 CSKA 18

9.56PM: Huge 3-pointer to Anthony Parker puts Maccabi up.What a shot! Maccabi 25 CSKA 22

10.01PM: Bad turnover by Maccabi, and CSKA take advantage, opening up a 3-point gap. Maccabi 25 CSKA 28

10.05PM: The English commentators are saying that they like CSKA’s chances, even at this early stage. They think Maccabi’s big victory the other night, coupled with their quick start to this game, may have had a detrimental psychological effect on them. Yeah, whatever.

10.07PM: Maccabi commits a three second violation. “Unheard of at this level” say the pompous English commentators. Maccabi 25 CSKA 32

10.10PM: Maccabi pull back the margin from 10 points to 5 within the last 30 seconds of the half. At half time: Maccabi 30 CSKA 35

Dave’s half-time analysis: CSKA will be pleased with their first half performance. They were far more disciplined than Maccabi, and are dictating the pace of the game. Maccabi prefer higher-scoring affairs, but so far have only 30 points. Maccabi have made too many errors, and need to play much smarter ball than they have been up until now. They are only 5 points down, and are still a chance to win, but will need to regroup in the second half.

Ok, that is about as many cliches as I can handle in one pararaph. I will return for the second half.

10.26PM: Just after hearing the commentators state that Maccabi have committed 9 turnovers to 2, Maccabi start the second half..with a turnover. Ouch!

10.36PM: Huge 3-pointer to Maccabi after a CSKA turnover. We are still in it - barely. Maccabi 39 CSKA 44

10.40PM: Sharp comes off injured, but Maccabi is now only 4 points down, with the momentum. Maccabi 42 CSKA 46

10.43PM: Maccabi’s Vujcic sinks both free throws. Now only 2 points in it. Maccabi 44 CSKA 46

10.48PM: End of the third quarter, and Maccabi is well and truly in this, even though the pompous English commentators are still backing CSKA. Maccabi 48 CSKA 49

10.51PM: Maccabi’s Arnold begs for the ball, gets it, and proceeds to back into the CSKA defence and attempt a very tough shot. He misses. C’mon Maccabi!

10.52PM: A few bad plays, and now there is a 7-point margin to CSKA. There’s still time left, but the signs are not good. Maccabi 48 CSKA 55

10.55PM: Scores are now tied! Never say die. Maccabi 55 CSKA 55

10.58PM: Solomon takes a ridiculously long 3-point attempt - and misses. Maccabi 58 CSKA 62

11.04PM: With a little over 2 minutes left, Maccabi are behind 59-64.

11.09PM: A little over a minute left, and the score is still Maccabi 59 CSKA 64.

11.13PM: Maccabi foul CSKA and will hope that CSKA miss the throws. But they make both shots. Maccabi 61 CSKA 68

11.15PM: 28 seconds left..and CSKA about to attempt 2 free throws. 5 point game. Makes the first. Misses the second.

11.16PM: 3-pointer to Maccabi!

11.17PM: And another 3! Not over yet. 6 seconds left.

11:18PM: Maccabi have lost! Maccabi 69 CSKA 73

Dave’s end-of-game analysis: In the final analysis, Maccabi were defeated by a more polished team. Turnovers hurt us, but CSKA had great defence which slowed down Maccabi, and prevented them from playing their uptempo game.

Full credit to Maccabi for making a game of it in the dying seconds. 7 points down, with under 30 seconds left, two 3-pointers to Maccabi meant that CSKA only put the game beyond doubt with their final free throw with only a few seconds on the clock.

I will take a breath now. That was exciting stuff, and although I am disappointed with the result, I am proud of Maccabi’s never-say-die attitude. They did us proud!

Maccabi Tel Aviv made it to the final of the Euroleague, smashing Spanish side Tau Vitoria 85-70.

They face off against CSKA Moscow tomorrow.

Yeah, I realize the Euroleague is not the NBA. But, hey, we’ll take what we can.

Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv takes on Spain’s Tau Ceramica in tonight’s Euroleague semi final - a rematch of last year’s final, which Maccabi won by 12 points. If Maccabi wins tonight, they will face the winner of the other semi final between Winterthur FCB and CSKA Moscow on Sunday.

If Maccabi goes all the way, it will become just the third club to win three straight European titles, joining Jugoplastika Split (1989-1991) and ASK Riga (1958-1960).

Here’s hoping that victory is theirs.

West Sydney Razorbacks star James Harvey has told the Sydney Morning Herald that a terrorist bomb in Israel helped him make the decision to return to the Philips Championship.

 

Harvey told the Herald’s Harriet Alexander that when he discovered after returning from training one night that a suicide bomber had killed 15 people at his local market, the decision to return to Australia was made a lot easier.

 

“That was the nail in the coffin,” Harvey said. “To be honest, I wouldn’t say I was really loving it over there, but I would have hung in there and I could’ve got through the year.”

“Maccabi’s victory is another sign that any second now Moshiach will come – just like the Rebbe taught us,” Rabbi Yaakov Gloiberman, the personal rabbi of Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Pini Gershon, said Monday. “And God willing, Moshiach will be the rebbe himself,” he added, referring to the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

 

Gloiberman, a Chabad emissary in Lod, provided spiritual support to Gershon, who coached Maccabi to a win against Tau Vitoria in the Euroleague final Sunday in Moscow.

“What else has to happen before Moshiach comes?” asked Gloiberman. “Image thousands of fans, religious and secular, marching through the streets of Moscow after the victory shouting, ‘There is a God and Moshiach.’ ”

 

Gloiberman said thousands of Israelis openly expressed pride and adulation for their team in Moscow, a city with a long history of anti-Semitism.

 

“Right now I am speaking to you from in front of KGB headquarters,” he said. “Just a few decades ago a Jew with a beard would be afraid to show his face anywhere in Moscow. Now I am standing in front of the most infamous place in Russia, celebrating Israel’s victory without fear.”

I have just finished watching Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team defeat Spanish team Tau Vitoria 90-78, to win the Euroleague for the second year in a row.

The 7,000 Maccabi fans in Moscow were reinforced by about 2,000 Greek fans who came to cheer Greek Panathinaikos, but agreed to cheer on Maccabi after their own team lost to Maccabi on Friday.

 

It was only on Friday that fans of the two teams seemed as if they were each other’s sworn enemies, as each competed for a single ticket to Sunday’s finale. 

 

Perhaps it is the Mediterranean blood flowing through the veins of both Israelis and Greeks, but the two fan groups were expected to work together in Moscow’s Olympiysky Arena, where the game is taking place.

They are not pressing it yet but for the first time this season, the panic button is within reach of the Perth Wildcats.

 

And with their 2004-05 NBL championship campaign seemingly slipping away with every game, the club has taken the drastic step of approaching former guard James Harvey to return to the fold.

—-

Harvey, a member of the Wildcats line-up last season, parted ways with the club during the winter to play in Israel. He returned to Perth last month. Fisher spoke to Harvey about joining the team for the rest of the season but the WA product decided not to take up the offer.

2003-2004: Perth Wildcats (NBL,1T): 33games: 20.7ppg, 3.4rpg, 3.5apg, played also shortly at Maccabi Rishon le Zion (ISR) 1g 26pts 4rebs 1ass
2004: Summer League in Treviso (Italy)

2004-2005: Maccabi Rishon Le-Zion (ISR-Premier L.): released in Nov.’04: 5g 6.6ppg 1.8rpg 1.2apg