For three hours on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden the New York Knicks hosted Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv, the pride of Israeli hoops, in an exhibition that somewhat resembled a professional basketball game. But the rabbi involvement and prevalent Hebrew music were a few of the constant reminders that this was clearly not a typical NBA game.

Midgal Ohr ads played during the breaks (the game was a benefit for the Israeli charity), and the Israeli national anthem got big cheers. Also, most of the crowd wasn't thrilled about the Knicks.

Well, that last part is pretty standard at Madison Square Garden these days. But Rabbi Grossman of Migdal Ohr took over center court for a sing-along during halftime, and that's pretty unusual.

Since the Knicks last won the NBA finals in 1973, Maccabi has won 34 Israeli championships (that's all but 2 times) and 13 European championships. Seriously. Bill Clinton was president when the Knicks launched their last winning season. Perhaps history fails me, but it's possible Israel wasn't a state the last time Maccabi had a bad year.

Ehud Olmert and Israel basketball legend Tal Brody watched on as the Knicks soundly defeated Maccabi 106-91. (For the record, Olmert's introduction drew much less applause than when attendees Sara and Robbie got engaged on the big screen during the second half, while the organ piped Hava Nagila.)

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