Free Republic

Who would have thought Israel would dream the impossible dream, fight and beat the undefeatable foe not only in the fields of science, startup companies, art, or culture, but in those of sport? Its barely imaginable world victory was registered on May 18, 2014 when the Israeli basketball team, Maccabi Electra TV, won the Euroleague Basketball Championship. Maccabi beat Real Madrid 98-86 in Milan in overtime in the finals after defeating CSKA of Moscow and Emporio Armani Milan in earlier rounds. With its victory, Maccabi may have reached the moon, but its joy was not unalloyed. Maccabi supporters sang the...

For the record, if you're thinking Maccabbi Tel Aviv is just another European team, living off the leftovers of players who failed to make it into the NBA, well, you'd be mostly right, except that MTA was also the first European team to defeat an NBA team (Washington Bullets, 1978), and then, in 2005, beat the Toronto raptors 105-103. Otherwise, they've lost all their NBA matches.

PRESS RELEASE: Maccabi vs. Pamesa goes to Disciplinary Judge Mar 24, 2004 Pamesa Valencia has officially communicated to Euroleague Basketball S.L. its decision to not travel to Israel for its Top 16, Week 4 game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The game is scheduled for 19:40 Central European Time (GMT + 1, six hour difference between Eastern - GMT-5 - time) today, Thursday, March 25. The Spanish club has alleged that Israel did not offer adequate conditions under which to play the game within a normal environment. In relation to the decision taken by Pamesa, Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu has said:...