Berkovich, Miki

Miki Berkovich is a student of the Tel Aviv sports school Maccabi . From the age of 11 he played for the youth teams of this club, and at 17, in 1971, he began performing in the team of masters ^[1] . The following year, Miki became the top scorer of the youthful (under 18 years old) European Championship in Zadar ^[2] ; with his help, the Israeli team finished this tournament in fourth place ^[3] .

In 1974, Berkovich already won the Asian Games basketball tournament with the adult Israeli team. The following year, Mickey went to the United States, where he began his studies at the University of Nevada . Speaking for the university team in the 1975/76 season, he spent 11 matches in the student championship of North America , gaining an average of 2.5 points per game ^[1] . At the end of this season, Berkovich received offers from two NBA clubs, but Maccabi refused to terminate his contract, and Miki returned to Tel Aviv ^[3] .

In the 1976/77 season, Berkovich with Maccabi won the European Cup for the first time in Israeli history, winning the semifinal match of CSKA and the Italian Mobilgirgi in the final. In the final match, Miki scored 17 points - the second indicator in the team after Jim Botright . The following year, Maccabi players entered their names in the history of European basketball, becoming the first in Europe who managed to beat the NBA team - moreover, the victory was won over last year's NBA champions Washington Bullets . Berkovich, whom Yugoslav sports journalist Vladimir Stankovich calls a connoisseur of American basketball, scored 26 points in this game. In 1979, at the 1979 European Championships, Mickey scored an average of 23.6 points per game (including 33 against the teams of France and Spain and 31 against Italians) and became the top scorer of the tournament. His last hit in the semifinal match with the Yugoslav national team for the first and last time in the history of Israeli basketball brought the Israeli team to the final, where it lost to the Soviet team ^[3] .

In the 1980/81 season, Berkovich and Maccabi won the European Cup for the second time, gaining the last five points for his team in the final game with Bologna Virtus and finishing the game with the best in Maccabi with twenty points. In 1984, Berkovich and Maccabi repeated their achievement six years ago, defeating two NBA teams in Tel Aviv - the New Jersey Nets (Berkovich had 26 points, the best result in the team) and the Phoenix Suns (20 points) . In 1986, Berkovich’s winning throw in the match of the World Cup qualifying tournament with the Czechoslovak national team provided the Israelis with their first and so far last participation in the world championship ^[3] . At the World Cup itself, he scored an average of 16.8 points per game, finishing the tournament with the Israeli team in seventh place. Miki continued to play for the Tel Aviv-based Maccabi until 1988, winning a total of 17 Israeli titles and 13 Israeli Cups with the club. ^[2] In addition to victories in 1977 and 1981, Mickey and Maccabi played three more times in the finals of the European Cup - in 1982, 1987 and 1988 ^[3] .

In 1988, Berkovich broke up with the Tel Aviv-based Maccabi and joined the team of the same name from Rishon Lezion, with whom he spent five seasons. During this time, Miki with his new team managed to break into the final of the playoffs of the Israeli championship and played in the qualifying round of the European Cup ^[2] . Berkovich spent the last two seasons in his career in two Hapoels - Jerusalem , with which he took third place in the championship ^[4] , and Tel Aviv . He completed his performances during the 1994/95 season ^[5] , playing his farewell match in December 1995 as part of the Tel Aviv-based Maccabi against the European team ^[2] .

For 165 matches held for the Israeli national team, Miki Berkovich scored 2842 points. In European club tournaments, he spent 211 matches and scored 3588 points ^[2] . In the Israeli Championship games, Miki scored a total of 8465 points - the second result in the history of the league, second only to Dorona Jamchi (9611 points) ^[6] .

At the end of his playing career, Mickey Berkovich in 1996 took the post of professional manager of the Maccabi team (Givat-Shmuel) , who had just left the top division of the Israeli championship. He replaced his fellow Tel Aviv Maccabi Moti Aroesti at this post ^[7] .

In the future, Berkovich was actively engaged in business. In the last years of his performances, he founded Point 9, a sports clothing and equipment store chain. Later, in the middle of the first decade of the new century, he sold this network and switched to real estate trading ^[8] . For four years, Berkovich was the owner of the Israeli Super League team from Ramat Hasharon , where his two sons Roi and Niv played. Players such as Jason Wells , Hector Romero, and Marcus Hatten also performed on the team during these years. At the end of the 2005/6 season, when the Ramat Hasharon team dropped out in the second division of the Israeli championship, Berkovich parted with it ^[9] .

In 2005, according to the results of voting on the Ynet portal, Miki Berkovich took 35th place in the list of “200 greatest Israelis”, becoming the second athlete in this list after Olympic champion Galya Fridman ^[10] . In 2008, his name was included in the list of 50 people who made the greatest contribution to the development of the Euroleague , compiled on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this club tournament ^[11] , and in 2017 - on the lists of the FIBA ​​Hall of Fame ^[12] . In the list of 60 best Israeli athletes compiled by the Jerusalem Post for 60 years of the state’s existence, Berkovich was assigned the first line ^[13] . In 2014, Berkovich received a special award from the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Israel for his career achievements ^[14] .

• Miki Berkovich on the Jews in Sports website
• Miki Berkovich (Hebrew) on the Safsal site
• Vladimir Stankovic. Miki Berkowitz, the man of the last basket (neopr.) . Euroleague (December 3, 2011). Date of treatment January 14, 2014.