If there is one team in Europe that disproves the theory that only the strongest local competitions produce continental giants, it is Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi goes relatively unchallenged at home in the Israeli League, where it has won 43 of a possible 49 titles since 1954, in addition to 33 Israeli Cup trophies. But dominance at home does nothing to mitigate Maccabi's power abroad, where it has won three European club titles and has finished second six other times. Its first European crown, in 1977, put Maccabi on the basketball map to stay. Its second, in 1981, was all the extra proof anyone needed. With the exception of 1993-94, the year following its only recent loss of the Israeli League title, Maccabi has been a constant presence in the competition for top European honors. A formula of complementing the best Israeli players with the most select players from abroad keeps working for Maccabi. A Suproleague title in 2001, Maccabi's first in Europe since 1981, assured what had been a given in modern European basketball: that the pride of Israel will always be in the hunt when the European club championship is decided. 2001-02 was no different, as Maccabi rallied heroically to reach the Final Four in Bologna, falling short in the semifinals against its new rival and eventual champion Panathinaikos. Last year, Maccabi played one of the toughest schedule in Europe, travelling all over Europe weekly, and came within a few points of a Final Four birth despite fielding one of its youngest teams. The club had to overcome the loss of homecourt advantage, as it was forced to play home games in Greece due to war in the Middle East, yet came within a buzzer-beater of upending Benetton for a spot among the top four in Barcelona. Maccabi rebounded, though, bringing satisfaction to its enormous body of fans when it won its 43rd Israeli league title. For 2003-04 Maccabi is once again positioned as one of the giants in Europe. Aiming for the top is nothing new for the Israeli club: Maccabi never settles for less.

TROPHY CASE:

(*) Euroleague
1977, 1981
(*) Suproleague
2001
(*) National League
42 titles
(*) National Cup
32 titles

 

2002/03		overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
1	Cibona	78	48.3	20	43	46.5	8	15	53.3	14	18	77.8	20	7	19	8	17	3	2	24	25	83
2	Olimpija	91	59.3	27	41	65.9	5	13	38.5	22	26	84.6	26	9	11	4	14	0	1	18	25	107
3	@Zadar	110	59.4	29	42	69.0	9	22	40.9	25	32	78.1	12	14	17	4	11	4	2	30	31	116
4	Borac	98	56.9	29	47	61.7	8	18	44.4	16	20	80.0	22	9	20	14	13	0	3	17	24	122
5	@Široki	92	55.7	29	41	70.7	5	20	25.0	19	19	100.0	16	8	9	7	11	2	0	16	0	80
6	Zagreb	114	69.8	32	42	76.2	12	21	57.1	14	17	82.4	18	5	22	10	9	2	0	18	26	148
7	@Laško	86	55.7	31	49	63.3	3	12	25.0	15	18	83.3	17	9	10	13	11	6	1	14	21	106
8	Bosna	91	54.1	25	40	62.5	8	21	38.1	17	23	73.9	27	7	16	6	12	0	1	20	24	104
9	@Krka	80	50.0	25	45	55.6	4	13	30.8	18	26	69.2	21	10	11	6	18	2	0	22	0	53
10	@Split	80	56.1	30	47	63.8	2	10	20.0	14	17	82.4	24	6	10	15	18	8	0	20	0	77
11	Zvezda	92	49.2	28	51	54.9	3	12	25.0	27	32	84.4	19	12	15	6	12	2	3	26	30	98
12	@Olimpija	74	48.3	29	53	54.7	0	7	0.0	16	21	76.2	25	12	10	3	10	1	2	27	26	76
13	@Cibona	80	40.0	18	44	40.9	6	16	37.5	26	33	78.8	21	8	13	7	5	1	1	26	28	83
14	Zadar	87	49.3	23	42	54.8	10	25	40.0	11	18	61.1	27	12	17	7	14	3	2	20	22	98
15	@Borac	93	55.6	30	42	71.4	5	21	23.8	18	24	75.0	27	6	7	11	15	3	1	19	23	101
16	Široki	91	55.4	33	52	63.5	3	13	23.1	16	23	69.6	22	8	20	16	9	3	1	20	21	115
17	@Zagreb	89	58.3	27	41	65.9	8	19	42.1	11	16	68.8	21	6	20	9	13	0	0	22	0	80
18	Laško	84	58.6	26	39	66.7	8	19	42.1	8	8	100.0	21	4	24	11	17	3	1	23	16	98
19	@Bosna	95	58.9	28	39	71.8	5	17	29.4	24	36	66.7	12	5	15	18	12	1	0	28	0	71
20	Krka	76	53.6	25	42	59.5	5	14	35.7	11	15	73.3	26	9	20	8	16	3	0	21	18	93
21	Split	106	62.2	37	55	67.3	9	19	47.4	5	9	55.6	31	11	32	4	13	7	1	25	13	133
23	@Olimpija	82	54.3	18	28	64.3	7	18	38.9	25	33	75.8	24	6	5	3	18	2	1	30	30	74
24	@Zadar	88	46.0	22	42	52.4	7	21	33.3	23	28	82.1	20	11	10	6	8	1	1	25	23	86
23	18:5 Total	2057	54.6	621	1007		140	386		395	512		499	194	353	196	296	57	24	511	426	2202
	Average	89.4	54.6	61.7			36.3			77.1			21.7	8.4	15.3	8.5	12.9	2.5	1.0	22.2	18.5	95.7
	Season max	114	69.8	76.2%			57.1%			100.0%			31	14	32	18	18	8	3	30	31	148

2002/03				overall		FG2			FG3			FT			Rebs					Blck		Foul
		GP	Min	Pts	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	M	A	%	D	O	Ass	St	To	Fv	Ag	Cm	Rv	Val
4	Lubin, L.	18	180:35	40	45.7	15	24	62.5	1	11	9.1	7	10	70.0	10	3	27	18	20	1	0	43	17	31
5	Lewis, Q.	23	485:43	246	51.1	67	116	57.8	27	68	39.7	31	41	75.6	30	7	23	19	38	7	2	69	33	156
6	Sharp, D.	21	359:47	128	42.9	15	25	60.0	24	66	36.4	26	31	83.9	16	6	27	22	24	1	2	53	18	82
7	Vujčić, N.	23	497:49	258	60.4	87	135	64.4	6	19	31.6	66	79	83.5	68	31	30	16	34	8	4	40	62	321
8	Goree, M.	23	542:03	298	66.9	107	144	74.3	6	25	24.0	66	82	80.5	65	52	18	17	16	7	4	43	74	396
9	Shelef, G.	22	298:49	126	62.0	43	64	67.2	1	7	14.3	37	57	64.9	20	10	43	12	25	2	0	36	31	136
10	Burstein, T.	20	456:42	137	41.7	37	83	44.6	11	32	34.4	30	37	81.1	51	16	45	29	26	4	3	39	34	174
11	Halperin, Y.	21	311:59	121	53.4	35	59	59.3	12	29	41.4	15	21	71.4	19	10	28	15	14	1	1	40	27	119
11	Sheffer, D.	2	26:05	14	62.5	2	4	50.0	3	4	75.0	1	1	100.0	4	1	7	1	0	0	1	3	1	21
12	Saffar, Y.	19	283:15	164	52.2	37	63	58.7	22	50	44.0	24	40	60.0	42	11	11	8	15	2	1	24	30	158
13	Bluthenthal, D.	20	298:25	153	56.6	47	67	70.1	13	39	33.3	20	22	90.9	48	12	7	11	12	1	1	34	12	149
14	Udrih, B.	21	548:39	224	53.2	70	123	56.9	14	35	40.0	42	49	85.7	41	11	69	24	39	6	3	47	49	254
15	Besok, H.	21	327:05	148	59.0	59	100	59.0	0	0	0	30	42	71.4	85	23	17	4	33	17	2	39	38	205
16	Kohansky, E.	3	08:04	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	1	0.0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

FG2, FG3 - Field Goals; FT - Free Throws; Min - Minutes; Pts - Points; M - Made; A - Attempted; Blck - Blocks; Fv - in Favoure of; Ag - Against; Foul - Foul; Cm - Committed; Rv - Received; Rebs - Rebounds; D - Defensive; O - Offensive; Ass - Assists; St - Steals; To - Turnover; Val - rank Value;