Why is this Jewish Heritage Night different from all other Jewish Heritage Nights?
Because on this night, Omri Casspi might dunk not once, but twice.
And even if he doesn’t dunk at all, it’s not going to prevent the Golden State Warriors’ fifth annual Jewish Heritage Night from being the most special one yet.
There has been a lot of buzz in anticipation of the Feb. 17 game, and it’s all because the Warriors will be going up against the Sacramento Kings and, more specifically, their exciting rookie, Casspi — the first Israeli to play in the NBA.
Tickets discounted up to 42 percent — and even the free Jewish Heritage Night T-shirt — hardly even figure into the level of excitement this time around.
“There is definitely a much bigger buzz this season,” said Christopher Murphy, the Warriors’ group ticket sales manager. “Hopefully we’ll sell over 1,000 tickets.”
That would be a substantial increase over last year’s total of 650 for a game against the Utah Jazz, and well beyond the average of 562 for the past four years.
Interestingly, when the 2009-10 season started, the Warriors planned to hold the annual event during a ho-hum, late-season game against the Oklahoma City Thunder (who were the Seattle SuperSonics until relocating before last season).
That’s when Heather Erez, the assistant director of San Francisco Hillel, entered the picture while booking some group tickets.
“I wanted to take my students to go see Casspi [on Feb. 17]. It was just going to be a Hillel thing,” Erez said. “But I told Christopher, ‘Why don’t you make that the Jewish heritage game?’”
Within three weeks, it was a done deal. Now, the game is being listed all over the place: in synagogue newsletters, on Bay Area Tribe’s Facebook page, on BayJews.org, and by area federations and Hillels.
The main attraction for most Jewish fans will be No. 18 on the Kings’ roster. Israelis, of course, immediately went Casspi crazy this season — getting up at
5 a.m. to watch games live and reading about him daily in the Israeli press — and many in the United States are following him as well.
“I’ve watched more Sacramento Kings games than Warriors
games this season,” said Harry Gluckman, a member of Temple Israel in Alameda who, along with the late Frank Winston, helped launch the Warriors’ Jewish heritage games.
Casspi quickly gained the admiration of Kings’ fans for his outside shooting ability, tenacity and hustle. A 6-foot-9 small forward, he played his way into the starting lineup, and in one stretch a month ago, scored 20 or more points in four straight games. Fans in opposing arenas welcomed Casspi with banners and Israeli flags, and even Sports Illustrated jumped on the bandwagon, publishing an article titled “Welcome, The King of Israel.”
But since Jan. 8, when he missed seven of eight shots and scored only four points in Oakland against the Warriors, Casspi has seen his scoring decrease — and his playing time, too. A veteran player’s return from injury has bumped Casspi out of the starting lineup, which reportedly has made him an unhappy camper. A couple of weeks ago, Casspi snapped at his coach, Paul Westphal, after being removed from a game, but the two men patched things up, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Then last week, Casspi had another bad game against the Warriors, this time in Sacramento, missing four shots and scoring just one point in only 12 minutes. Things took a turn for the better the next day, when Casspi was chosen to play in the rookies vs. sophomores game ahead of the NBA All-Star Game Feb. 12 in Dallas.
Five days after that, Casspi will be in Oakland, but don’t expect to see an all-star level of play. The Kings and Warriors are among the NBA’s worst teams; in fact, seven teams have more wins than the Kings and Warriors combined.
So the attraction won’t necessarily be basketball. It’ll be the halftime performance of the dance team from the Jewish Community High School of the Bay; the free kosher hot dogs for the first 500 ticket buyers; the kids from Jewish groups that get to high-five the players when the teams run onto the court.
And, of course, Casspi.
“There is something very Israeli about his basketball style,” said Akiva Tor, the S.F.-based Israeli consul general for the Pacific Northwest. “He’s a chevrahman [a ‘social mensch’ in slang Hebrew] and a Zionist, completely dedicated to the game, an aggressive team player, making brilliant assists when he’s not scoring or rebounding.
“Every Israeli consul general in the U.S. is extremely jealous of me for having Casspi in my territory.”
Jewish Heritage Night, Golden State Warriors vs. Sacramento Kings, tips off at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at Oracle Arena, Oakland.
Tickets: $20, $35, $60. Information: (510) 986-2214, [email protected] or www.tinyurl.com/ygv6a8u.