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 Here's the USA Juniors Team: Top row, from left--John Kalin, Kevin Baker, Zach Libresco, Jonathan Goldstein, Holden Collick, Travis Warech, Zak Elfenbein. Bottom row, from left: Robert Fink, Luke Silverman-Lloyd, Matt Goldman, Ben Resner, Lorenzo Cohen. |
Echoes of the Olympic Dream Team at Maccabiah
of TheColumnists.com
I went to the Pan American Maccbiah Games--sometimes known as the Jewish Olympics--over Christmas week in Buenos Aires because my wife and I could tour the city and join our pals, Mike and Andrea, rooting for their son, Zach Libresco, a Wheatley (LI) High junior, playing basketball in those Games.
This 11th Pan American Maccabiah (aka Maccabi) included 31 competitions--bridge and chess among them--with competitors ranging from the early teens to the 70s. A 65-year- old stalwart won a triathlon gold medal in his age group…because he was the only competitor in that group.
As I watched the top-seeded American Juniors (boys 16 and under) crush the opposition in the early rounds, I had visions of the legendary American Dream basketball team’s dominance at the 1992 Olympics. These US Juniors from across the country weren’t Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, John Stockton or Moses Malone, but they routed their early-round opponents just as the vaunted USA Dream did at Barcelona.
The Dream Team won their opener by slaughtering little Angola 116-48. The US Juniors routed Venezuela, 110-35 after getting off to a 25-0 lead. The Dream Team won its second game by 33 points, the US Juniors beat Argentina II, 72-54, after springing to a 15-0 lead.
Between games my wife and I walked the city. Buenos Aires is a cosmopolis of some eight million--a city of friendly people…wide boulevards…broken pavements… cheap-fare taxis… thick steaks… great wealth contrasted by street scavengers… base-drum political street protests… and advertising glut at almost every turn.
We were awed by the Cementerio de la Recolete where Eva Peron Duarte is buried. It is an awesome necropolis of more than 150 ornate mausoleums and crypts. I sought out the mausoleum of the boxer, Luis Angel Firpo, who knocked Jack Dempsey through the ropes in the first round and then was knocked out in the second round of a controversial bout in 1923. There was a full-size statue of the Wild Bull of the Pampas next to the crypt and I swear I heard Firpo say to me, “I was robbed, Stan. If those damn sports writers hadn’t helped Dempsey back into the ring, he would never have gotten back in time to keep fighting.”
The Dream Team next beat Brazil, 127-83, The Juniors sprinted to another 15-0 lead and beat Colombia, 90-49. Six-foot, two Travis Warech of Montville, NJ, a college Division One prospect, led scorers most of the time. Holden Collick of Atlantic Beach, LI, dominated the backboards. John Kalin of Mendham, NJ opened up defenses with his drives.
Assistant coach Rick Sheinsohn inserted everybody into the action. Jon Goldstein of Pacific Palisades, CA started. Robert Fink of Consohocken, PA; Matt Goldman of Harrison, NY, and Lorenzo Cohen of Encino, CA, got their minutes. Luke Silverman-Lloyd of Culver City, CA celebrated his 14th birthday during the tournament.
Our guy, six-foot Zach Libresco, lived up to coach Brian (Shifty) Schiff’s evalulation of him as a warrior and a pounder. When he came off the bench Zach played the opposition’s tallest man and gloried in the moment when he forced his man into a charging foul.
When the broad-shouldered 6-5 Zak Elfenbein of Miami FL came down with tourista, his mother, Bette, sent him into battle with, “This is your only chance. Go out and play.”
Elfenbein, the most personable of the boys, was effusive. “At home,” he said, “I have tests and homework, tests and homework. What could be better than a bunch of teenagers just hanging out. A few of us went shopping; I never got so much stuff for $20.”
I heard of a young woman from Albany, NY who said she “had never seen such a good-looking bunch of Jewish men” as the athletes at these games. Another woman’s son’s Junior soccer team “was killed by the Argentinians. It was like a bunch of Argentinians going to play basketball in Harlem.”
The Dream Team won its gold medal with a 117-85 rout of Croatia. The score was a bit deceptive because at one point the fabled pros were behind, 25-23. In the same sense the US Juniors had to contend with a strong Canada team in their gold medal game.
For the first time, they did not get off to a huge lead. After Holden Collick sank a layup for a 2-0 US lead, Canada came back to tie and then sink a three-point shot for a 5-2 lead, the first time in the tournament the US boys trailed.
The teams battled evenly throughout the first quarter and a 15-13 US advantage. Coach Shifty’s tactic of working his boys hard in the pre-tournament practices paid off when his boys’ all-court press took hold in the second quarter.
Canada was held scoreless as John Kalin, the floor leader, and Travis Warech led a 16-point run that upped the lead to 31-13 and 34-15 to the delight of their chortling parents in the stands.
At this point Canada solved the press, began dominating the boards and whittled the lead to 35-24 at halftime. After a six-point run at the end of the first half, Canada added five more points at the start of the second half.
When the Canadiens crept to 36-30, Kevin Baker, the quick-release shooter from Worcester Mass., provided much relief with a long shot from outside, a three-pointer. But Canada wouldn’t fold and trailed by 43-36 going into the last quarter.
I was sitting between Zach’s Dad, Mike, and my wife, who normally shows little rooting interest. But now, as the Canadiens added a basket and a three-pointer to reduce the lead to two points, 43-41, I could hear gasps of “oy-oy” from both of them.
Good teams rise to the pressure. Here Ben Resner of Harborfields, LI took over, scoring nine points. The clincher was his three-point shot that upped the US lead to 59-49. They coasted to a 63-51 finals victory.
Gold medals went to 12 ecstatic young men. It extended longtime Pan Am Juniors coach Shifty’s unbeaten streak to 29 games. And when last seen Zach Libresco was kissing his gold medal
These boys may go on to play college ball. They may win games, though probably not a conference championship, nor a tournament.
And they will always have Buenos Aires.
©2008 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The team photo was taken by Leah Libresco. All rights reserved. This column first posted Jan. 7, 2008.
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