Crowd supports Israeli team in game vs. Knicks
Maccabi Tel Aviv took to MSG last week
Had you casually entered Madison Square Garden on the evening of Oct. 11, you might have thought that you had accidentally walked in to a different city, namely, Tel Aviv.
Israel’s favorite basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, came to New York City for a preseason game against the embattled New York Knicks, and made the home team feel like it was on the road. While the Maccabi players were cheered at every opportunity, the raucous, largely Jewish crowd chose to boo the Knicks during the pre-game introductions and even free throws. Of course the jeers were not merely those of partisan fans, as the game came at a rather dark period for the franchise: Knicks team president and coach, Isiah Thomas, was found guilty of sexually harassing a team executive on Oct. 2 and the team was ordered to pay damages of $11.2 million.
Alas, despite the overwhelming fan support and a strong start, Maccabi was defeated by a score of 112-85. The Maccabi players came away satisfied that, at least for a little while, they could keep up with a team with as much individual talent as the Knicks, although they acknowledged that they still have a lot of work to do.
“Tonight we could have played a whole lot better,” said Vonteego Cummings, who has played in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers. “We got off to a great start and then they picked the pressure up and we got more aggressive and then we started to turn the ball over. We can’t do that with a team like this.”
Marcus Fizer led Maccabi with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Incidentally, Fizer played in the NBA with Jamaal Crawford and Eddie Curry of the Knicks when all three were in Chicago. Following the game, Fizer didn’t sound too upset with the results.
“We shouldn’t lose any sleep over this,” said Fizer. “It’s preseason. We just need to build on this. I’ve seen teams go 8-0 in the preseason and start off 0-8, so preseason, it is what it is, and we just have to learn from it.”
Fizer also explained that losing while playing under NBA rules is not the same as losing in the European league.
“The whole game is different here. The court seems a little bit bigger; the three-point line is definitely a lot farther, the time is a lot different [the quarters are 12 minutes instead of 10]. The basketballs are different from what we are used to. The guys here [on the Knicks] shoot with them every day. I mean, I was so used to them when I was in the NBA and now it’s like holding a ball of ice.”
Besides playing against an international opponent, there were a number of striking differences on this game night, from all other game nights. The Knicks gave control of all their tickets – nearly 20,000 – to Maccabi, resulting in the many yarmulkes and Israeli flags in the crowd. All of the food stands provided deli sandwiches from Mendy’s, a New York kosher food chain, and Dudu Fisher sang Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem at center court before the Star-Spangled Banner. All proceeds from the game benefited Migdal Ohr, a charity for poor and orphaned children in Israel, founded by Rabbi Yitzchak David Grossman. Grossman addressed the crowd during halftime and gave a tribute to former Knicks’ Coach Red Holzman, who was also Jewish.
Asked if he was disappointed to be in the Maccabi locker room instead of the Knicks, David Bluthenthal, an American Jew, said that was definitely not the case.
“I love playing for Maccabi,” he said. “I lived in Treviso, Italy, I’ve lived in Bologna and Tel Aviv and St. Petersburg, Russia. Tel Aviv is probably the best.”
Fizer probably summed up his teams’ thoughts best.
He said: “It’s great for the NBA and the Euroleague, but this was a long trip for one game.”
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