MIKI BERKOWITZ - 101 Greats of European Basketball

Miki
Berkowitz
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The man of
the last basket
Every time that Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Pionir
Arena in Belgrade, I remember April
7, 1977. That day, Maccabi and Mobilgirgi
Varese played the final of the competition
we now know as the EuroLeague, the first
one I ever saw live. Two years earlier, Israel
had been part of the EuroBasket played in Yugoslavia,
but it didn’t make the final phase. To be honest, I don’t
remember much about the five qualifying games, after
which Israel finished seventh with an average of
20 points from Miki Berkowitz.
But that club final in 1977 was a dramatic game decided
in the last moments. With 7 seconds to go, and
with a 78-77 lead for Maccabi, a doubtful call for traveling
on Lou Silver allowed Varese a chance to win the game.
But great defense by Maccabi managed to maintain
that score and allowed the Israeli squad to lift its first
European crown ever. That was the first time I saw Miki
Berkowitz play. He was the great star of Maccabi. He was
only 23 years old, but he was already known as one of
the best European players. I remember his name from
the under-18 EuroBasket played in Zadar in 1972, where
a great Yugoslavia team (formed by Dragan Kicanovic,
Mirza Delibasic, Dragan Todoric, Rajko Zizic and Zeljko
Jerkov, among others) won the gold medal. However,
the best scorer of that tourney was one Miki Berkowitz.
Thanks to him, especially, Israel finished fourth.
The stands at Pionir that night in 1977 were yellow
and full of Maccabi fans despite the fact that Italy was
much closer than Israel. Also, Yugoslavia and Israel
didn’t have a diplomatic relationship back then, but
the Yugoslav government allowed the Maccabi fans to
enter the country without a visa. That was also the first
time that a jumbo jet landed in Belgrade. That night,
Berkowitz scored 17 points in his first big final. He was
the second-best scorer for Maccabi, behind only Jim
Boatwright (26). On the other side, stars such as Dino
Meneghin (21 points), Bob Morse (20) and Randy Meister
(7) couldn’t win against the big heart of Berkowitz
and his teammates.
History against Washington
One year later, on September 8, 1978, Maccabi entered
the history books by becoming the first European
team to beat an NBA team. And not just any team.
Maccabi won 98-97 against the Washington Bullets,
the previous NBA champion, a team featuring players
like Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes as big stars and Dick
Motta on the bench. Miki Berkowitz scored 26 points in
that game.
Berkowitz was a connoisseur of American basketball.
He spent one year at the University of Nevada at
Las Vegas and had offers to sign for the New Jersey
Nets and the Atlanta Hawks, which would have made
him the first European player to enter the NBA. But
Maccabi had his rights and he had to go back to Tel Aviv.
In the 1979 EuroBasket, with an average of 23.6
points, he led Israel to the silver medal, which is still the
biggest international success of the country’s national
team. Against France and Spain he scored 33 points,
against Italy he had 31, but his most important basket
was the last one in a duel against Yugoslavia, which was
then both the European and World champion, with its
golden generation. Israel won 77-76 and sent Yugosla-
101 greats of european basketball
Miki Berkowitz
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Vladimir Stankovic
via to the fight for the bronze while Israel entered the
great final, which it lost to the USSR 76-98.
During most of his career, Berkowitz played without
the existence of three-point baskets, which were introduced
only in the fall of 1984. That surely makes his
numbers lower, even though shooting was not his main
weapon. I remember him most for his drives, his quickness,
his hands stealing a lot of balls, his sixth sense
to find the right spot for the rebound... Miki was also
a great defender. He was a complete player and most
of all, a winner like he says in his autobiography “Born
to Win.” The last shot or the decisive play was always
set for him. He liked challenges and didn’t know the
meaning of the word “fear.” He decided many games,
and many of them were really important.
In the 1981 final of the EuroLeague, in Strasbourg
against Virtus Bologna (80-79), he scored the last 5
points for his team. First, with the game tied, he made it
78-75 with a basket-plus-free throw combination. Then
he made it 80-77 in the last offensive play by Maccabi.
He finished with 20 points, more than Aulcie Perry (18),
Earl Williams (17) or Jim Boatwright (14). He took part in
another three finals, but Maccabi would lose all of them:
1982 against Cantu (80-86, 16 points); 1987 against
Milano again (69-71, 9 points); and 1988 against Milano
again (84-90, 3 points) in the first Final Four of the modern
era, played in Ghent, Belgium.
In 1984, in a tourney in Tel Aviv with Hapoel Tel Aviv,
the New Jersey Nets and the Phoenix Suns, Maccabi
repeated the heroism of six years before. The first day
it beat the Nets 104-97 with 26 points by Berkowitz
and 23 by Kevin Magee, and in the final Maccabi defeated
the Suns 113-98 with 36 points by Magee, 28
by Lee Johnson and 20 by Berkowitz. Thanks to him,
Israel played in its only World Championship in 1986,
winning the qualifying tourney in the last game against
Czechoslovakia 92-90, with his basket on the last
offense. In the Worlds that followed in Spain, Miki averaged
16.8 points. In his seven EuroBaskets between
1973 and 1985, only in the first one (6.4 ppg.) and the
last one (15.3 ppg.) did Berkowitz average below 20
points.
Israeli Legend
Apart from being considered the best basketball
player of all time in Israel, Miki Berkowitz is among the
most famous people ever in that country. A survey on
the Ynet portal once put him in 35th place in a list of
the 200 most popular figures of the history of Israel. He
was even named “King of Israel” by the local press. He
handled his fame naturally, as he was always a humble
and kind man.
A role model.
His two sons followed the tradition and even managed
to play in the Israeli first division, but the Berkowitz
last name was more a curse than a blessing and
their performances were always compared to those of
their irreplaceable father.
I can offer you some more numbers on Berkowitz:
• Second best scorer of all time in the Israeli League
with 8,465 points, behind only Doron Jamchy.
• 3,588 points for Maccabi in 211 EuroLeague-level
games.
• 2,842 points in 165 games with the Israeli national
team.
• Best scoring performance in an Israeli League
game was 42 points.
• Best scoring performance with the Israeli national
team was 44 points against Turkey in the 1975
EuroBasket.
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Miki Berkowitz
At the end of his playing career – he retired in 1995
– Berkowitz played with his great friend Motti Aroesti
in Maccabi Rishon and also in Hapoel Jerusalem and
Hapoel Tel Aviv. He was also the owner of the Ramat
HaSharon club and general manager at Ironi Nahariya.
Though Berkowitz wore number 9 on his back, he
was a 10 as a player!
Apart from being
considered the best
basketball player of
all time in Israel,
Miki Berkowitz is among
the most famous people
ever in that country.
101 greats of european basketball
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