Miki Berkovich

Education

During the 1975-1976 season, he played in 11 games and averaged 2.5 points per game as the Runnin" Rebels finished 28-1 and were the Number.

Career

He was a 6" 4" shooting guard. He was named one of International Basketball Federation"s 50 Greatest Players in 1991. In February 2008, he was named as one of the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors by a select panel.

He was also honored at the Euroleague Final Four in Madrid.

Berkovich is recognized by many Israelis as the best Israeli basketball player who ever played. Born in kfar saba israel Berkowitz began his long and distinguished career with Maccabi Tel Aviv at the age of 11 when he joined the youth club

At the age of 15, he was playing for the junior squad. In 1971, at the age of 17, he made his debut with the senior team in Israel"s top professional league.

In 1975, he played college basketball for University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the United States.

1 seed in the Western Region of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. They defeated Boise State, 103-78, in the first round, although Berkowitz registered no points and only one rebound. University of Nevada, Las Vegas then lost to Arizona, 114-105, in the second round.

Berkowitz did not play in the game.

He returned to Maccabi after just one year. Berkowitz returned to Israel following the 1975-1976 season and played a considerable role in Maccabi Tel Aviv"s fortunes during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1981 the second European Championship for Maccabi, against another Italian team, Sinudyne Bologna. Berkovich scored the winning basket from Moti Aroesti"s assist, setting the score to 80:77.

Berkovich"s career in Maccabi came to the end in 1988, when he and Aroesti joined Maccabi Rishon LeZion.

Later he played for Hapoel Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv. In 1974 took young Northwest Territories to the fourth place in European Championship and was the leading scorer of the tournament. In 1979 Berkovich was part of the which finished second (behind the Soviet national team) at the European Championship in Turin.

Berkovich was named tournament Most Valuable Player.

After the 1979 Eurobasket Berkowitz had offers from the New Jersey Nets and the Atlanta Hawks from the National Basketball Association, but a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv stood in the way (Maccabi management insisted that he stayed in the team, so they had to settle the case in civil court).

Later he became the Director of Basketball Operations of Ironi Naharia, but left the team after just one year.

Achievements

• In 1977 Berkovich helped Maccabi Tel Aviv to win its first European Championship, defeating Mobilgirgi Varese 78:77 in the final held in Pionir Hall, Belgrade and CSKA Moscow 91:79 in semifinal group game held in Virton, Belgium, an achievement that produced Tal Brody"s famous sentence "We are on the map, not only in basketball". There were no three point shots back then so the Italian could only score a two point basket and Maccabi won 80:79. During his playing years with Maccabi, he won 19 national championship titles and 17 national cups. At the same year, Berkowitz also won a gold medal at the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran. Berkovich retired from basketball in 1995, after he retired from basketball he wrote an autobiography book called "Born to Win".

Membership

At his retirement he was second all-time in appearances (165) and points (2,842) as a member of the National Team.