No pressure. As if German superstar Dirk Nowitzki already didn’t have enough on his shoulders when he represents his home country.

Now Los Angeles Clipper center Chris Kaman says that his participation in the 2010 World Championships depends on Nowitzki being there.

(Discuss the World Championships of Basketball in our forum)

Read the following article culled from FIBA.com:

Germany will have a potent one-two punch if, as expected, Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman return to the squad and play at the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Los Angeles Clippers center Kaman, who represented the Germans for the first time at the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens and helped the country reach the Beijing Games, did not play at EuroBasket 2009 while national team veteran Nowitzki also skipped the tournament in Poland to have some much-deserved rest.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Nowitzki was ecstatic when Germany received a wild card to play at the 24-team FIBA World Championship and indicated he would be back in Dirk Bauermann’s line-up and Kaman, who is enjoying a terrific campaign with the Clippers, is also talking about joining the Germans in Turkey.

“If he (Nowitzki) plays, I’m going to play,” Kaman said. “I think that if we have Dirk, it will give us a chance of winning and advancing to the later rounds of the Championships…

“I’ll base my decision on what Dirk does…I want to play, but I also want to win, and the chances are a lot better if Dirk plays.”

Germany will take on Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan and Angola in Group A of the FIBA World Championship in Kayseri.

The EuroBasket 2009 no-shows by Nowitzki and Kaman may have been a blessing in disguise for Germany as some of the country’s best young talent received more playing time and had to take responsibility on the court.

Two of those starlets at the EuroBasket in Poland were Elias Harris and Lucca Staiger.

They are playing American college basketball at Gonzaga and Iowa State, respectively, and doing very well.

In the NBA, Nowitzki has been playing like an MVP again while Kaman has shown signs he may be an All-Star one day.

In his latest effort on Monday night, Kaman poured in 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Clippers’ 105-95 triumph over visiting Portland.

The 27-year-old is averaging better than 20 points and nine boards per contest.

His performances have helped the Clippers to a 15-18 record and kept them firmly in the hunt for a place in the NBA Western Conference Play-offs.

The summer of 2008 was a good one for Kaman because not only did he become an Olympian, but he also visited Germany, the country of his great grandparents, for the first time.

“I’m three generations removed,” Kaman said of being German to FanHouse. “But it’s a great place. I really enjoyed my time there. I hope one more time I can see the country more.”

Read the article at FIBA.com.

Just as Ron Artest was ready to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol will miss a couple games with a strained left hamstring.

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Gasol played just 7 minutes before leaving the Laker’s match against the Dallas Mavericks last night.

The injury to the Spanish star was called “mild to moderate” and is doubtful for the Lakers’ Tuesday night game against the Houston Rockets.

Gasol is listed as day-to-day. The 7-0 forward/center, who is averaging 16.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists, missed the season’s first 11 games with a strained right hamstring.

Artest was cleared to practice Monday and could play Tuesday night against his former team the Houston Rockets.

Australia needs a healthy Patty Mills to make a big impact at this year’s FIBA World Championship in Turkey and the signs are good that that will be the case with the point guard having enjoyed a dream start to the new year.

(Talk Patrick Mills and Aussie Basketball in our forum)

Mills has fully recovered from the foot injury he suffered last summer and after spending two games in the NBA’s Development League with the Idaho Stampede, averaging 30.0 points and 7.5 assists in 34.0 minutes off the bench, the Portland Trail Blazers have added him to their squad.

He will be with the Trail Blazers for Monday’s match against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Mills suffered a foot injury last summer that sidelined him for several months but was still selected by the Trail Blazers with the 55th overall in the NBA Draft.

He began full practice in December and wasted no time in showing his potential for the Stampede with a dominating 38 point and 12 assist performance in a January 1st triumph over the Reno Bighorns.

Mills followed that up with 22 points in a one-point victory against the same opponents on Sunday.

In that second game, Mills scored the winning basket with a put-back just 1.2 seconds from the end.

Australia will take on Argentina, Serbia, Germany, Angola and Jordan in Group A of the FIBA World Championship. Read the full article at FIBA.com.

Britney Griner finally got her second (and third) dunk last night when #5 Baylor destroyed Texas State by 81 points, winning the game 99-18.

Griner, who scored 28 points on 11-12 shooting, got her second career dunk on the first basket of the second half.

(Discuss Britney Griner’s dunks in our forum)

On a fast break, Melissa Jones dropped the ball off to the trailing 6-8 Freshman. Griner took the pass and slammed with two hands and then hung on the rim. The dunk gave Baylor a 49-5 lead with 19:36 left in the game.

Just 90 seconds later, Griner received the ball in the post, turned baseline and jammed down a one-handed dunk over her hapless and much shorter opponent. That second dunk made her just the second female, along with Candace Parker, to dunk twice in a game. See the video below (dunks come at the 0:59 and 1:39 mark):

“I was looking for it just in case (Jones threw it to me),” said Griner, “She had thrown it to me once before, and I wasn’t ready. That’s why I was trailing, to let her know I was coming.”

Baylor started the rout with a 24-0 lead, holding Texas State without a point for the first 8:55 of the game before Davis finally broke the drought by dropping in broke the drought by dropping in a baseline jump shot with 11:05 to play.

Texas State would go on to score just five points in the first half on 2 for 32 shooting at halftime, setting a Baylor record by an opponent.

Griner also added 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. Diamond Ford led Texas State with seven points.

Griner had dunked once already, in her fourth career college match, but hasn’t completed another successful slam, missing on several attempts along the way before last night’s win.

When Anderson Varejão is on the court, the Cleveland Cavs have outscored their opponents by 309 points in 1001 minutes this season.

And the 6-11 Brazilian Player of the Year leads the league in that category, referred to as plus-minus.

(Discuss Brazilian Basketball in our forum)

When Varejão was on the court against the New Jersey Nets the other day, the Cavs outscored the Nets by 14 points in their 94-86 win over New Jersey, which officially moved the Brazilian into first place overall in the aforementioned category.

With the Lakers off Saturday night, that means Varejao held the overnight plus-minus lead over the plus-306 of the Lakers’ Ron Artest, who has been sidelined since sustaining a concussion in a fall at his home on Christmas night.

Since the Cavs are so much better when Varejao plays than when he sits, it begs the question: Why isn’t he a starter?

The common perception is that coach Mike Brown likes to bring the Brazilian off the bench to play the bulk of his minutes alongside Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who has a better outside shot than Varejao and thus can play away from the basket and leave the dirty work down low to Varejao, who had 12 rebounds vs. the Nets.

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Arik Shivek has been appointed as the new head coach for the Israeli National Team.

(Talk Israeli Basketball in our forum)

The 53-year-old will fulfil the vacant post left by Zvi Sherf, who left the national team after Israel ended Eurobasket this year without a win.

Shivek is aware of the difficult task ahead for Eurobasket 2011, especially because of “a lot of good teams coming up from below”, but he’s confident, assuring there will be a lot of hard work for his players.

Shivek began his coaching back in 1998 in Israel with Maccabi Ra’anana, before moving to Maccabi Ramat Gan and Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Starting 2003 he coached European teams, namely Amsterdam Astronauts (Holland), where he led his MyGuide team to a repeat championships in 2008 and 2009, and Antwerp Giants (Belgium).

Shivek was named Eurobasket Coach of the Year in 2008 and was the 2005 and 2009 Coach of the Year in the Dutch league.

Marc Gasol is having a career season after shaping up his body with a summer regimen. Through 31 games, the 7-0 center from Barcelona, Spain is averaging 15.1 points, 10 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 blocks – all career highs if he can maintain them.

(Talk Spanish Basketball in our forum)

The following article is courtesy of GrizzTime, the official program of the Memphis Grizzlies – volume 9, issue 3:

Marc Gasol takes it to the next level
There was a buzz at the Grizzlies home offices this summer that center Marc Gasol’s training regimen during the offseason was going to take his game to another level when the 2009-10 regular season rolled around.

He supposedly had a new chiseled frame that made him look like a different player.

When Gasol arrived for media day at the start of the season, it became quickly apparent that not only were the rumors true, but he also seemed to be making a statement by cutting his trademark shaggy locks from last season.

The hair, according to Gasol, does not make the new man, however. Taking the next step as a player by being the ultimate teammate, well that’s a different story.

“I just want to work with my teammates towards our goal, which is winning basketball games,” said Gasol. “I’m not into hair or fashion. I’m just into basketball.”

Gasol’s brilliant play this season has proven that he doesn’t have many distractions. His emergence has solidified him as a major building block for the Grizzlies, right alongside the other young pillars of the team, O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay.

“As a team we are more mature than we were last year,” said Gasol. “We have to come with a mental toughness every night, and we are doing a better job of that.”

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