101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
many masters of the game on both sides, a special player
caught everyone’s eye. He was Maccabi’s number 12, Lou
Silver. We knew him by name, but seeing him in action was
a pleasure, mainly because of his special way of shooting.
He was a power forward standing at 2.03 meters. He
could jump well, but his main asset was scoring. He had a
peculiar way of shooting the ball, with his hands and the
ball starting the shot almost completely from behind his
head. That peculiar style made it almost impossible for
defenders to block his shot, because it started at an angle
that was impossible to reach. Maccabi dominated from the
start thanks to Boatwright and Berkowitz, but also thanks
to great defense. Bob Morse, the great Varese scorer,
had his first points in the eighth minute and finished with
20 – below his usual numbers. At the break, Maccabi was
ahead 39-30, but Perry had 4 fouls that were provoked by
Dino Meneghin. In minute 26, the Italian team managed
to pull within 47-45 and in minute 33 it was tied at 61-61.
The ending was full of drama. With Maccabi leading 78-77
and 12 seconds left on the clock, Silver missed a shot, but
grabbed the offensive rebound for a new possession. It
looked like Maccabi would win, but British referee David
Turner, a FIBA favorite at the time, called for a traveling
violation that no one else saw. Varese had 7 seconds to
win, but great Maccabi defense forced a bad pass and a
turnover. Maccabi had won its first continental crown. It
was April 7, 1977, a date for the history books in Israeli
basketball. Boatwright was the hero of the game, with 26
points, followed by Berkowitz with 17 and Perry with 16.
Silver scored 6, but his behind-the-head shot remained in
all our memories.
Silver for Silver
Before playing more European finals with Maccabi,
Silver made his debut with the Israeli national team at
the 1979 EuroBasket in Italy. He helped the team a lot
on its way to the silver medal. It was a total surprise,
one of the biggest in the history of EuroBasket. On the
way to the final, Israel defeated Yugoslavia’s golden
generation, a three-peat European champion at the
time (1973, 1975, 1977) and the defending world champion.
Israel prevailed 77-76. In the title game, Israel
lost to the USSR 98-76, but history had already been
written. The names of Berkowitz, Silver, Motti Aroesti,
Eric Menkin, Shuki Schwartz, Shai Sherf, Boaz Yanay,
Barry Leibowitz and the rest, coached by Ralph Klein,
were national heroes. Silver scored 27 points against
Czechoslovakia, 18 against Poland, 14 against France.
His average for the tourney was 14.3 points per game.
The next four years, Silver would play for Israel with
excellent numbers: 19.8 points at the 1980 pre-Olympic
event in Switzerland, 14.5 at the 1981 EuroBasket, 15.3
at the 1983 EuroBasket and 14.1 points at the 1984
pre-Olympic tournament.
Silver played his second EuroLeague final on March
27, 1980, in Berlin against Real Madrid, who won 89-85,
perhaps because Silver had one of the few bad days in
his career. He did not score a single point that night. As
EuroLeague runner-up, Maccabi took part in the Intercontinental
Cup in Sarajevo in 1980 and won the trophy
after defeating Franca of Brazil 88-74 with Earl Williams
as the best scorer with 28 points for the winners.
The following year in Strasbourg, Maccabi won its
second EuroLeague title by downing Synudine Bologna
80-79. Berkowitz was the best scorer with 21 points,
followed by Williams with 20. Silver contributed 6 points.
The last EuroLeague final for Silver was on March 25,
1982, in Cologne, Germany, where Squib Cantu was better
than Maccabi, 86-80. Silver and Berkowitz scored 16
points each, but on the other side were Charles Kupec
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