The first basket

Little-known fact: The first player to score for the brand-new New York Knickerbockers back in 1946 was Ossie Schectman, a Jewish athlete from Brooklyn. David Vyorst's documentary traces this and other great Jewish moments in the history of basketball from the turn of the century to today. Narrated by Peter Riegert.

“Jewish legacy on basketball court

“Long before Dr. J laced up his first pair of Chuck Taylors, basketball had stars like Sonny Hertzberg and Barney Sedran, players who honed their skills at the Jewish settlement houses of New York's Lower East Side.

“The children of immigrants gravitated toward the game because it was cheap and easy to play; Jerry Fleishman, who spent five seasons with the Philadelphia Warriors, recalls chucking a balled-up newspaper through the bottom rung of a fire-escape ladder when proper equipment was too dear to come by.

“David Vyorst's documentary, "The First Basket," reminiscences about the old days with players like Ossie Schectman, who sank the NBA's first two-pointer, and charts the dwindling Jewish presence on the hardwood as prospering families moved out of the cities and a desegregated NBA admitted its first African Americans.

“Narrated by Peter Riegert, "The First Basket" doesn't get far beyond the surface of its subject, apart from a brief discussion of whether a devotion to athletics conflicts with the Jewish intellectual ideal. But it uncovers a fascinating and largely forgotten chapter of the game's history that is well worth revisiting.”

-- Sam Adams, L.A. Times