Whoever would have believed it?

Israelis seem to be well acquainted with miracles, especially when they are connected with basketball. This season seems to be no different: Maccabi Tel Aviv in January seemed to be a hodge-podge of players, none of whom appeared able to play together as a team. Despite the above, Maccabi somehow managed to get into the Euroleague final four.

I was in Amsterdam whilst the semi-finals were played on Friday, so didn't see what happened. My son phoned at half-time to say that Maccabi were trailing by 16 points. Imagine my surprise when he phoned an hour later to say that instead of losing, Maccabi had actually won the game! Apparently this was Maccabi's game of the season, in the same way that they advanced to the final a few years ago after having played not too well throughout the year. If I recall correctly, their opponents that year (2006) in the final, as this year, were CSKA.

We left Amsterdam Sunday lunchtime; Israeli newspapers were distributed on the plane, and one could read a play by play account of this game. 'Miracle' in Hebrew is 'Ness', and as their opponents were from Sienna, the game had already earned the nickname 'Nessiena'.

As the final four is being held in Madrid, a few time zones to the west of Jerusalem, the championship game only started at 10pm our time. By this hour I was truly worn-out, and so opted to record the game on dvd (what a souvenir that would make if Maccabi won!) and go to bed. Even so, I stayed to watch the first quarter in which Maccabi and CSKA (another European powerhouse) were evenly matched.

First thing this morning was to check the score on the Euroleague website. As might be expected, CSKA won the game, although apparently it was neck and neck until the final quarter. Many were depending on Maccabi's unpredictability to be their trump card against the Russian machine, as it was against Sienna, but apparently not. I'll try and watch the game this evening.

Anyway, whoever would have believed it? Had anyone predicted in dark January that Maccabi would be playing in the Euroleague final, they would have been laughed out of court (although I imagine by then that CSKA were already a safe bet).

Now it's back to domestic matters. Maccabi have had one of their worst domestic seasons and are in danger of losing the championship. This does not mean that they won't be playing in Europe next year; apparently their participation has been guaranteed until 2012. But it may mean that two Israeli teams will be playing in the Euroleague next year. This has happened only once before, a few years ago, when the Jerusalem team also participated; they also lost almost all of their games.

Next posting: Amsterdam diary.