The Nets game against the Israeli professional team Maccabi Ra’anana was scheduled long ago and the players from Israel had no idea they would be in New York when their country was attacked by Hamas on Saturday.
Jonathan Mor was at dinner in New York when he first heard about the bloodshed.
“We got messages about bombs and missiles,’’ Mor said by phone after his team worked out at Barclays Center Thursday, prior to the game Thursday night. “It was unbelievable. Everyone got on their phones and saw the videos. It was like something out of a horror movie. A bloodbath.”
The 28-year-old Mor, who lives in Tel Aviv and arrived in New York with his teammates early last week, immediately contacted his parents and fiancé and understood his two brothers would be called immediately by the Israeli army.
They have since joined the fight.
“It’s heart-wrenching,’’ Mor said. “We didn’t sleep for 30 hours. I want to be there to help, but I’m here.”
As a professional athlete, Mor said he has no combat training, so he would not be involved in the war, but he still would like to be able to volunteer at hospitals or to assist those who have been evacuated.
Instead, he’ll play the first of his team’s three-game tour against NBA teams, with matchups coming up in Cleveland and Minnesota before Mor hopes he and his teammates can return home.
“I’m not gonna lie, basketball feels kind of secondary right now,’’ Mor said. “The scenes and pictures [from there] make you worry about friends and family and I felt I was here without any purpose. I didn’t think basketball had any role, but if I can use it to explain what our people are feeling, maybe that can help to let everyone know the impact this has had on our people. This is what we’ve done for our entire history as a country.”
There is an expectation that there could be protests from both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups outside the Barclays Center on Thursday and there will be added security for the game.
Nic Claxton said on Wednesday he didn’t believe the game should be played, since “there [are] bigger things going on in the world than basketball.”
Some players left, according to Daniel Hazan — an Israeli-American player agent who helped organize the game — because they “want to be with their families who are bunkered down.’’
But both Mor and the team’s head coach, Yehu Orland, said people in Israel wanted them to continue.
“People at home said it was important we play so the whole world will know nothing will break us,’’ Orland said. “That there are terrible things [happening] and we still have hope. Our young people need to know there’s hope.”
That doesn’t mean it will be easy.
“This is the profession we chose so we will play hard [Thursday],’’ Orland said. “Our bodies are here, but our state of mind is in Israel. We don’t think of anything but our country and people.”
And like many Israelis, Orland has lost someone close to him in the war.
“My best friend died three days ago and his funeral was [Thursday] and I could not be there because we are here,’’ Orland said. “We will do the best we can.”