Mac TA captain Burstein hangs up his sneakers

Local Hoops: Tal Burstein announces his retirement from basketball after an illustrious career at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

By ALLON SINAI
TAL BURSTEIN 370 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
TAL BURSTEIN 370
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi Tel Aviv captain Tal Burstein announced his retirement in an emotional press conference at Nokia Arena on Monday, bringing to an end an illustrious career at the age of 32 due to a hip injury.
Burstein began his career at Bnei Herzliya in the 1997/98 season and established his place in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s starting lineup in his debut campaign at the club as a 20- year-old in 2000/01.
The versatile guard, who had his career derailed in 2006 when he ruptured muscles in his Achilles heel, played 11 years in total at Maccabi, also spending one season in Fuenlabrada of the Spanish league in 2009/10.
Burstein, who became a fringe player for the yellow-and-blue in recent seasons, won 10 Israeli championships, eight State Cups and three European titles with Maccabi, and his 1,158 points in 113 appearances for the Israel national team rank him ninth all time in points scored for the blue-and-white.
“After the experts told me that I have to undergo surgery to overcome this injury and that the chances of recovery aren’t great and that I could harm my health in the long run I decided to retire,” said Burstein, who broke into tears when he mentioned the late Moni Fanan in his thank you speech.
“I had an amazing career, better than anything I could have dreamed of as a kid.”