Jewish NBA Finals 2010

The Boston Celtics and LA Lakers are facing each other again in the NBA Finals. The greatest rivalry in basketball has given to us some memorable moments and this year has been no exception.

While this year’s finals will be decided by Kobe’s fade away jump shots and Pierce’s lay-ups, we will try to look on the Jewish side of the NBA finals or as we call it the Jewish NBA Finals 2010. This contest will be decided by the past and present of the franchises and at the end we will know which team is more Jewish.           

At the Jewish NBA Finals, the Lakers enjoying a big advantage, we can even say they have the home court advantage because of Jordan Farmar.  Farmar is a member of the tribe. The speedy point-guard is one out of two Jewish NBA players. What we really like about Farmar that he actually plays every game about 12 minutes and is a vital piece of the Lakers bench.

Farmar's coach, Phil Jackson also gets some points in the Jewish NBA finals. No, Jackson is not Jewish but most of his career was influenced or impacted by Jewish people. The legendary Red Holtzman was Jackson's coach while he was playing for the Knicks. Jackson in multiple interviews said how his coaching methods are based on Holtzman’s. Some even say that when Jackson was injured, Holtzman assisted him in coaching the team. Jackson has to give a lot of credit as well to Chicago Bulls owner, the Jewish Jerry Reinsdorf, for trusting him and giving the opportunity to coach the Bulls, which led to 6 championships together.

So far the C's are behind here, and they have to pull the Red Auerbach wildcard. At every Celtics game, you can still sense the Auerbach's spirit over the players. Even today when Rondo, Garnett, Allen and Pierce are playing with the green jerseys above them and the #2 jersey has Auerbach's name on it. It gives them the inspiration and enthusiasm they need to beat LA.

With the help of Auerbach's spirit the Celtics are back in the series and Alan N. Cohen is helping the Celtics to decrease the gap. Cohen was Jewish sport's businessman who owned Madison Square Garden and spent some time as a co-owner of the Celtics. The Celtics’ comeback is followed by Johnny Most's voice in the radios all over Bean Town. The Jewish radio broadcaster and a World War II veteran was hired by Auerbach to be the team's radio play-by-play man on the Celtics Radio Network.

            As the series getting close to an end, Hank Finkel who played for both teams decides to play for the Celtics in the Jewish NBA finals. The bench player who has a ring with the Celtics from 1974 ties the Series.

Just when we all thought this series is going to overtime, Jordan Farmar provides another Lakers-Celtics memorable moment. With second left, Farmar shoots a hook shot just like Magic Johnson did over the Celtics defense to win the Jewish NBA Finals. David Stern, the Jewish commissioner of the NBA, is gladly to give the golden trophy named after Abe Pollin to the Los Angels Lakers' owner Jerry Buss.

-Yuval Klein