RoM

Maccabi brings new joy to Israel
sport and a country became one on Saturday night in Israel when Maccabi Tel Aviv lifted the Euroleague crown in a record-breaking show without precedent in world basketball. The facts speak for themselves. No team had ever scored more points (118) , nor won by a bigger margin (44) in any European final, but it was nonetheless a blowout that proved fascinating to follow to its end. Maccabi played near-perfect basketball during a flawless 40-minute barrage of triples, dunks and defense. "You could have brought the Lakers or the Spurs in here tonight," Maccabi center Maceo Baston said, "and we still would have wupped them." But the fascination on Saturday transcended even Maccabi's amazing performance to include a sea of yellow basketball lovers at Nokia Arena. "I've seen basketball played in a lot of places," ESPN's Chad Ford said after the game, "and this is the most amazing crowd I have seen anywhere." And yet, Saturday night was perhaps even more unbelievable outside Nokia Arena. The third-biggest television audience in the ratings history of Isreal was rivetted to every last dribble of the Euroleague Final, including 40,000 devoted fans watching on massive screens in a Tel Aviv park. After the buzzer, that crowd grew to 100,000, who were visited well after midnight by their heroes, the Maccabi players and coaches. There, in the middle of the night, Israel could have been the most joyful place on the planet at that moment, thanks to one perfect game in a beautiful sport called basketball. "The whole country stood behind Maccabi last night when they lifted the Euroleague trophy," the Israeli newspaper Maariv said on its front page, "and brought a smile back to Israel."