Interbasket

Every Wednesday (almost cough cough) during the NBA season, interbasket takes a closer look at ten international NBA players that has caught our eye. (This week is for period 12/19/2007- 01/01/2008)

This week we see another European having troubles with Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, Dirk receives another award, Yi Jianlian and Linas Kleiza finding their grooves, Hedo doing his thing in Orlando, Nash is passing, Yao is boarding, Manu’s probably not going to make the all-star game this year and a partridge in a pear tree.

Due to the holidays, I wasn’t able to post my international NBA player week in review, so for this week i’ll cover 12 International NBA players to help cover some ground we may have missed.

Interbasket’s 2007 International NBA Player of the Year
So with 2007 behind us, who was your NBA international player of the year for 2007? Considering only NBA accomplishments; there’s only really a couple real candidates in my mind: Dirk Nowitzki leading that group and Steve Nash behind him. Much like how the MVP voting went for last season in which Dirk won and Nash came in second. Tony Parker was finals MVP, and Manu Ginobili joined him in adding another NBA championship ring. Anybody behind those five are really only pretenders.  So with you reading my stream-of-consiousness train-of-thought, Interbasket’s International NBA Player of the Year is Dirk Nowitzki. Congrats Dirk.

Utah says Goodbye to Gordan Giricek
Gordan Giricek has fallen out of favor with Jerry Sloan, becoming very public last week when Giricek and Sloan were seen arguing during a timeout in the second quarter of Utah’s loss at Charlotte on December 19th. Sloan sent the disgruntled Croatian guard to the locker room and Giricek didn’t see an NBA floor for the next three games. That fourth game turned out to be his last with the Utah Jazz. The Jazz sent him (and a conditional first round pick) to Philly for Kyle Korver.

GM Larry Miller gave some insight into the situation when he spoke to a local radio station (KFNZ 1320 AM). He said that assistant coach Phil Johnson once told him “Phil Johnson said, ‘Gordan Giricek is the most talented player on this team. But he won’t do what he’s supposed to do.’

The 6-6 shooting guard, who had fallen to the role of third-shooting guard, wasn’t surprised at all by the trade, saying that he had asked management to move him because he felt as he was being disrespected. “What concerned me all the time was to be respected as a man,’‘ Giricek added. “Not my role, but to be respected as a man.” Sounds familiar huh? You think he and Andrei Kirilenko has had some late-night chats?

Now, only four days after being sent to the Philadelphia 76ers, Giricek returns to Utah tonight to face his team of the last five season. Geez, I would need some time to heal, but these are grown tattooed men made of testosterone, muscles and anger — “It will be awkward a little [tonight]. I’ve been playing basketball a long time, and I don’t need any more excitement like that.’ Said Giricek ‘I don’t fall into the [trap] that this is my ex-team, they traded me and now I’m going to do everything I can to beat them. I think I’m going to see it as a game that I’m going to help my new team beat my old team.”

Hedo, He Do!
Sorry for the title. Some guy had that nickname on one of the basketball forums I frequent. Kind of funny, kind of lame.

Anyways, Hedo Turkoglu continued his fantastic season as one of the Magic’s indepensible four (Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Rashard Lewis are the other three) Despite Hedo having a horrible game (7-19 shooting and 7 turnovers) Turkoglu hit the game-winning jumper with 0.7 seconds left against the Chicago Bulls last week giving Orlando the 112-110 win.

Since the last report we talked of Hedo (12/05), Turkoglu’s field goal percentage has dropped, but his points per game has gone up (18.6 to 19.6) as has his rebounds (6.1 to 6.2). Helping Orlando stay on top of the Southeast division.

Kleiza Rising
Speaking of game-winners, Lithuanian Linas Kleiza found himself with the ball with seconds to spare.

After Allen Iverson drove the lane and missed, Marcus Camby tipped the ball out and Kleiza was in the right place, right time. The 6-8 muscular power forward with a nice soft touch, hit the straight-on jumper to give Denver a one-point win over the Sacramento Kings 106-105.

Linas has scored double-figures in seven of his last eight games and has seemed to hit his stride. After earning more minutes last season, Linas hasn’t quite been as consistent as he would like this season.

He’s still improving. On the season, Kleiza’s third, he is averaging career highs 10.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists. This from a guy that is seventh on the team in minutes, yet third on the team in scoring. Kleiza is sixth in the league in two-point field-goal shooting (61.1 percent). That’s saying a lot playing with the likes of green-lighters Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. If AI and Melo are the cornerstones, it’s important to find guys that play well and efficiently with those two — Kleiza (along with Camby and Eduardo Najera) are proving to be those guys through their play.

Nash Still Passing
In his last 25 games, Canadian Superstar point guard Steve Nash has registered 23 games with double-digit assists. And for the season, he’s had 26 games (out of 31 played) with double-digit assists — Jason Kidd is second with 20 games of 10+ assist games (out of 29 games played). Nash is passing at a career-high rate at 12.4 assists a game.

Songaila Finally Misses
Darius Songaila finally missed his first free-throw and is at 24-26 this season, Songaila’s only shot 5 free-throws since the last time we reported on his streak - a duration of 18 games. Because of this, Songaila hasn’t shot enough free-throws to qualify for the league leaders, but before his miss the other night, Darius topped the list of NBA players that have shot the most free-throws without a miss.

Beno’s Ups and Downs
After going 0-8 in 29 minutes in a win over New Jersey last week, Beno Udrih hit a career-high six threes (6-7) in a win over Milwaukee the next night to the tune of 24 points. Before playing 29 minutes and putting up no points in the New Jersey game, Beno had a streak of 11 games in double-figures.

Yi Jianlian Only Bright Spot in Milwaukee
In a win over the Charlotte Bobcats, Yi Jianlian had career highs in points, FG att, FG made, and minutes. At the end of the game Yi scored 29 points, pullled down 10 rebounds and shot 14-17 from the field. Yi hit his first 12 shots before missing. Jianlian has scored in double figures in the last eight of ten games and was just named the NBA East Rookie of the month for the month of December (2007). Yi averaged 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds in December and ranks second in scoring and rebounding among rookies.

No real surprise, Kevin Durant took home that award for the West, which brings up a good question - Is there even a small chance that Yi could change the decision-makers whom seem to be unanimously handing the award to Kevin Durant?

As of this writing, both have played 30 of their team’s 31 games, so let’s look at the stats between the two-frontrunners for Rookie of the Year:

* Kevin Durant, Seattle Sonics (9-22): 19.7 points on 40.7% from the field, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.2 blocks in 32 minutes a game.

*Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee Bucks (12-19): 11.0 points on 47.1% from the field, 6.1 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks in 28 minutes a game.

Hmmm… yep, it’s definitely still Durant at this point. However, if Durant remains steady for the season at around 20ppg and if Yi can get his point average up to 14-15 points a game, it would be a competition. In Yi’s last eight games, he’s been averaging around 34 minutes a game which is promising.

Yi’s problem? He’s the third option on the Bucks, while Durant has the green-light.

Big Z loves Team LeBron
I was watching a Cleveland game the other week and the announcers mentioned a little tidbit: Zydrunas Ilgauskas averages 16 points and shoots 51 percent from the field with Lebron James on the court, and only puts up 9/game on 36% without the King this year. Not that Big Z hasn’t proven himself previous to LeBron, but King James has definitely made things a lot easier for aging Ilgauskas who seems to have find himself open for midrange jumpshots a lot more this season.

Yao Back to the Boards
In a recent four game stretch, Yao Ming pulled down 63 total rebounds, 20 of which were offensive rebounds for averages of 15.8 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, the Rockets lost three of those four games. Yao then followed those games up with 13 rebounds in the next two games. On the season, Yao is averaging 10.6 rebounds, a career-high.

Scola Heats Up when McGrady Chills Out
Yao’s teammate Luis Scola had a string of three games in double-figures, also pulling in 25 rebounds in that stretch. The not-so-funny thing, and we’ve pointed this out in a previous update, Scola seems to play much better with Tracy McGrady injured. Of seven games that Scola has scored in double-figures, five have come when Tracy has been out injured.

Manu Ginobili Should Make the 2007 NBA All-Star Team, but won’t
I was doing my all-star picks this week and came to the realization that Manu Ginobili will more than likely be undeservingly left off the West squad. I Know that every year a couple deserving players get the shaft, but I really believe Manu should be in the same category as Dwight Howard, Kevin Gernett, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant this year - automatic.

Thats what I think of the season Manu has had so far. Despite being injured, Ginobili has been the man this year for the Spurs. I see Manu in the same position as Josh Howard, who will make the all-star game because he has upped his game while Dirk Nowitzki has slowed down some. My all-star picks (not predictions):

East All-Star Team:
C- Dwight Howard
F - LeBron James
F - Kevin Garnett
G - Chauncey Billups
G - Jason Kidd

R - Ray Allen
R - Paul Pierce
R - Chris Bosh
R - Tayshaun Prince
R - Richard Hamilton
R - Caron Butler

West All-Star Team:
C - Yao Ming
F - Tim Duncan
F - Josh Howard
G - Kobe Bryant
G - Steve Nash

R - Brandon Roy
R - Dirk Nowitzki
R - Amare Stoudemire
R - Carmelo Anthony
R - Manu Ginobili
R - Carlos Boozer
R - Allen Iverson

*R1 - Chris Paul
*R2 - Baron Davis
*R3 - Tony Parker
*R4 - Chris Kaman
*R5 - Deron Wlliams

WOW. The West is stacked with talent, each reserve deserves a spot. With the way Portland has been playing lately, Brandon Roy is going to be a lock if they continue going down that path. On the other side, Deron Williams might be the odd man out considering the way he’s played and the Jazz’s freefall lately.

I believe Manu is the guy that’s kept the Spurs amongst the elite this season and certainly deserves a spot, but voters will likely vote for a representative from a team instead of voting another Spur or Sun in — so although I picked Manu, it’s likely Chris Paul will take his spot (and Vince Carter, Dwyane Wade and Tracy McGrady will all undeservedly make the all-star team too).

With all that in consideration it’s likely that this will be first NBA all-star game in 15 seasons where Shaquille O’Neal won’t be participating in the mid-season classic. And it may also be the game with the least amount of international players voted in (not counting Tim Duncan) since 2001.

Sources: Giricek back with Jazz following three-game cooling-off period (Canadian Press), Giricek returns to face ex-team (salt Lake City Tribune), Giricek decision will wait until Jazz return home (salt Lake City Tribune), Whatever he’s called, Kleiza makes Impact (Denver Post), Yi, Durant Named Rookies of the Month (Nba.com), 2007 NBA All-Star Returns (Nba.com)

This week we look at the Utah Jazz’s international players, Andris Biedrins, Tony Parker without Tim Duncan, Anderson Varejao’s holdout, Andrew Bogut’s career thus far, discuss Hedo or Memo, and introduce Kyrylo Fesenko. Every Wednesday during the NBA season, interbasket takes a closer look at ten international NBA players that has caught our eye. (This week is for period 11/29 - 12/05/2007) 

The Warrior’s Steady-Hand
When one talks of the Warriors most will first think of Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis. Then they’ll think of Monta Ellis, Al Harrington, and Matt Barnes. Those five maybe the faces and the heart of the team, but I think the efficiency and work down-low of Latvian center Andris Biedrins is hugely-underrated. Biedrins is averaging 10.1 rebounds, and the 12 players that average more rebounds per game than Biedrins, Biedrins averages the least amount of minutes. Did I mention that he leads the league in FG% too?

Game by game, Biedrins stats may look inconsistent, but it’s more the coach and style than the ups-and-downs of the 6-11 center with long arms and great hands. Don Nelson loves his small ball, and he’ll start Harrington in the middle against teams with dominant centers, as he did with Dwight Howard. And Harrington played the majority of minutes when they played Yao Ming. So although Biedrins is good for a double-double each game, Harrington’s effectiveness in hitting threes determines Andris’s playing time about 30% of the time.

I think Nelly may be learning that though Biedrins isn’t going to draw opposing centers outside 10-feet, Biedrins is very effective in the pick-and-roll with Baron Davis.

Dare I say that Andris more than held his own against Dwight Howard too and I don’t think it was a coincidence that the Warriors started their run when Biedrins was in the lineup.

I am not complaining about Nelson at all. Being in the bay area, I’m lucky to catch many of the Warriors games; and they’ve perfected the up-and-down, shoot-the-first shot-offense while still getting back to scrap on defense. Additionally, Nelson was the one that first gave Biedrins (and Ellis) his shot, I just wish Biedrin’s minutes were more consistent.

Hedo or Memo?
When it came down to whom was the better Turkish player - Memo Okur or Hedo Turkoglu, the last couple of years had only strengthen my belief that Memo Okur was the better player. But things have flipped around this season. Both players are playing for teams that have great records and are contributing, but it’s Turkoglu this year that is having the better season, not just of the two players, but of his career.

I’ve always thought that Hedo Turkoglu’s decision making towards the end of games has been terrible, but I have to commend his play this year. He is key to Orlando’s start, I would even go to say that outside of Dwight Howard, he is the most important player on the Magic. I have no qualms in saying that Orlando wouldn’t be near where they are at this point of the season without him.

Thus far, Hedo has scored in double figures in every game this year and though his shooting percentages have taken slight dips, his offensive stats have skyrocketed. His eighth season in the NBA, Turkoglu is averaging career-highs in points this year (18.6), rebounds (6.1), and assists (4.1).

It’s early, and outside of a complete collapse, the Magic should be in the playoffs this season. To me, this is the time when Hedo will prove his worth to me. As I mentioned earlier, his decision making has never been great, and when the Magic are in a close playoff game this year, Hedo is their only truly-playoff-tested player. Let’s see if he has learned from his mistakes.

Mehmet Okur on the other hand has never had problems hitting in the clutch. Even last year in the playoffs when he hit a cold streak, he still found ways to hit a couple big time shots when they counted. But unlike Hedo, Memo is having a rough start to the 2008 season.

He truly had a great season last year; not only because he was one of the main cogs on an up-and-coming Jazz squad, he was also named to the NBA all-star team after putting solid numbers, and earned himself a reputation for hitting clutch shots.

But things have dropped this year - maybe because of Andrei Kirilenko’s renewed involvement (see below) and the continuation of Boozer’s dominance — however, Okur is playing roughly around the same amount of minutes an only shooting 1.5 less shots a game than last year, so it just might be a matter of raising his shooting percentage.

“I just go out there and play,” Okur said. “(Carlos) Boozer, Deron (Williams), Ronnie (Brewer) — those guys, they step up their game, especially on offensive end. So I just want to try to shoot open shots,” Okur has taken the team-first perspective when talking about his productivity this year “I‘m gonna do what I’m doing out there because Boozer is doing a great job on the block, and Deron creates open shots for us. … If I’m open, I’m gonna shoot it. If not, I’m gonna pass to whoever’s open.”

In addition to Memo shooting problems on the court, Okur went down with a slight injury that caused him to miss a game. He did come back strong the next game with 25 points in a win over Miami.

Who is Kyrylo Fesenko?
With the aforementioned injury to Memhet Okur (and to Carlos Boozer), 7-1, 288lbs Ukranian center Kyrylo Fesenko got called up from the Utah Flash, his NBDL team, for the Jazz’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers Friday. Fesenko, who would also leave the game with an injury, did well in his short NBA debut — accumulating six points and seven rebounds in only 11 minutes.

Fesenko is a physical, energetic, and agile center. Constantly moving, looking for contact, aggressive with hair-flying. The way Kyrylo plays, I can see him being a more-effective Zaza Pachulia. His naivete might be his biggest asset, he doesn’t come into the NBA afraid of anyone and though light-hearted off the court, his intensity on-court will be his biggest asset. The kid wants to dunk the ball like Shaq circa 1995 every time he touches it “I like (Shaq’s) animal rage under the basket, his power,” he said. “When you look at him even on TV, you are afraid of him. He is huge, big…”

While trying out for the Pistons last year, Fesenko got a chance to meet his childhood idol Shaquille O’Neal. So what did Fesenko when he had a chance to chat with his basketball hero? He reportedly told Shaq in a half-joking fashion “I will dunk over (you), if (you) play one or two more years.”

This kind of humor and blase attitude off the court has apparently made quite an impression on the Utah media and his Jazz teammates, even though he’s only been a in Utah a month or so “He might be so unaware, he plays well,” said Carlos Boozer speaking of Fesenko’s

In his only NBA game thus far, Fesenko was hit on the side of the head Chris Mihm while attempting to rebound a missed shot. He left that game, but was activated for the next game against Miami, but with Okur and Boozer back from injury, Fesenko didn’t play nor get the chance to dunk on Shaq (he also didn’t play last night against Seattle).

Things, however are looking up for Kyrylo as his short 20-day stint in the NBDL has made an impression on Jerry Sloan “His demeanor out here is 100 percent better than what it was when he left. Not even playing basketball, just being around his teammates and being a little bit more professional about what he’s doing.” And Fesenko wasn’t phased when he moved to the D-League, “I want to play in D-League and to be here, to get enough of game time to adjust to American basketball,” he said before being called up “I repeat it 100 time, I am not upset about it. I glad to be here. What can be better than to have enough of game time — and a guaranteed contract with the NBA?”

I guess it’s Utah Jazz talk this week. I would be remiss to not mention Andrei Kirilenko’s progress this season. His renewed perspective has him filling up box-scores again including the third triple-double of his career (that seems odd that he wouldn’t had had more by now) — 20 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals and 4 blocks.

The great thing about Kirilenko, for Kirilenko fans, Utah Jazz fans and Fantasy teams that have him on their team — it’s never just points or rebounds or assists, whenever he is on his game — you can always account on great block and steal numbers too.

Andrew Who Again?
Has there been any #1 draft pick in the last ten years that has flew under-the-radar as Andrew Bogut has thus far? In his third season, the 7-0 center from Australia is having another decent season by putting up 12.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, but I really haven’t heard anything about him; there just isn’t much discussion of Bogut. Has he shown any potential to eventually become worth a #1 pick overall?

What I am saying is personally, I haven’t heard anything about Bogut, and for being a #1 overall pick, that’s a little odd to me. We’re still tracking the progress of Andrea Bargnani. Everyone knows all about LeBron James and Yao Ming. We’re still talking about Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan. Greg Oden hasn’t put on an NBA jersey and we’re still talking about him. We know that Olowakandi and Kwame Brown were complete busts; that’s been discussed and proven. So what of Andrew Bogut?

Is it because he is playing in Milwaukee and no one cares outside of brewtown? I mean, I feel Yi Jianlian will consistently get more press. The question is, what can we expect from the Australian center? The #1 pick of 2005 hasn’t really had the chance to become the focus point because of the Milwaukee’s perimeter-orientated offense with great guards Mo Williams and Michael Redd.

I wonder whether it’s because Bogut hasn’t asserted himself enough. The brash, confident, and dominant college player that we saw at Utah has yet to surface. Is he still learning the NBA game? Can anyone in or outside of Milwaukee let me in on what’s going on?

Will Anderson Varejao Still be a Fan Favorite if he Returns to Cleveland?
So Anderson Varejao decides to sign an offer sheet with the Bobcats… 3 years for 17 million… The Cavs have said that they’ll match the offer, but as of this writing nothing is solid. Varejao can opt out of the deal after the second season and become an unrestricted free agent - which is likely in either case.

Why? I think it’s plainly obvious that Andy is settling for 5.5 million a season and playing for the Bobcats for transparent reasons. Nothing wrong with playing with the improving-Bobcats, but if the choice is to play for $5.5 million on the maybe-playoffs Charlotte Bobcats or play with LeBron James and the Cavs, the Eastern conference champions? Andy’s got dollar signs in his eyes still.

It seems to me that Varejao’s plan is to play his ass off, opt-out when the time comes, and play the free-agent game again trying to get his ridiculous 10/mil. Andy my friend, you better pull in 20 and 10 this season to even get close to that — good luck. You’re competing with a lot of other up-and-coming Bobcats that have already established themselves offensively with the Cats — Okafor, the under-rated Raymond Felton, Gerald Wallace, Matt Carroll, and Jason Richardson. Whoa, on second thought you better focus on grabbing 15 rebounds, blocking 5 shots, and play D like Ben Wallace circa 2004 in order to get the 10 mil you are looking for. Maybe the Bulls will sign you?

Seriously, I’d rather pay Fesenko 10x his salary, I think he has much more potential than Varejao.

Nash done with Canada?
Steve Nash has said that he probably won’t participate in next year’s Olympics in Beijing even if Canada qualifies, and many believe that the two-time NBA MVP might be done with the Canadian National Team altogether.

Though Nash is saying that he is still undecided, he is leaning towards not participating. citing his responsibilty to the Phoenix Suns “I would say no, but I can’t really talk about it until the situation arrives and this season’s come to a conclusion,” Nash said. “But in my mind right now, I’m not going to play for Canada anymore. I just can’t do both.“

Many speculate that when Canada decided to part ways with Jay Triano, the Canadian National Team coach from 1998-2004 and a good friend to Nash, they knew that the decision would not entice Nash to come back.

Unlike many countries (and their press), Canadians aren’t calling for the Steve Nash’s head. Overall, it seems they take a nicer and more understanding approach to Nash’s likely decision.

“We can’t fault him.” said Triano, whom is currently an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptor “Nash has given so much over so many years. I mean, you can’t expect guys to play until they can’t walk any more. Especially now, when he’s playing on a team that plays so deep into the summer.”

Current national team coach Leo Rautlins was quoted as saying “(Steve’s) got a young family, and he’s got to do what he feels is best for him … And whatever he feels is best, we all support him.”

Coincidentally, Nash and his Phoenix Suns will be in Toronto tonight to play the Raptors. Even with the disappointing news, no doubt the Canadians will be giving the Victoria BC native a warm welcome/thank you.

Tony Parker, Ginobili Bigger Factors than Ever
With Tim Duncan going down with an injury that will keep him out the next few games, it will be time for Tony Parker to quiet those critics that assert his success is only based on Duncan’s inside presence. Given, the numbers of those critics have grown smaller over the last few years, but when Duncan went down, it was inevitable that I would come across something to that fashion.

While people drum up something to complain about the Spurs, they continue rolling through the regular season again at 15-3, with the second-best record in the league. And they’re doing it with less-reliance on Tim Duncan as Parker and Manu Ginobili are both averaging career-highs in points, FG attempts, 3pt FG attempts, FT Attempts, Assists and Rebounds.

Yes, without Duncan, they would be a different team, but the Spurs wouldn’t have had the last couple championships without the play of Manu and Tony Parker. The fact that the Spurs are still successful with less-effective Tim Duncan, shows that the Spurs are special and says a lot about the system Popovich has in place.

Sources: Okur Steps Back, Others Step Up (Deseret News), Fesenko Might Get Chance to Dunk on Shaq (Salt Lake City Tribune), NBDL Stint Helps Fesenko (Salt Lake City Tribune), Fesenko Fine with D-League (Deseret News), Cavs Match Bobcat’s Varejao Offer (AP), Nash at End of an Era with Canada (National Post), Tony Parker Profile (Yahoo), Manu Ginobili Profile (Yahoo)

Day three of Eurobasket 2007 saw several upsets that changed the face of the next round:

Israel 87: Serbia 83 (game thread)
Israel shocked Serbia today behind an excellent performance from Yaniv Green. Israel was the 16th and final team to qualify for EuroBasket.

Coming into the game, many believed that the size of the Serbs (specifically Darko Milicic) would punish the Israeli team in the paint. Enter Yaniv Green, who held down the middle, scored 26 points and pulled in 12 rebounds for Israel, including two free throws that gave Israel the lead for good with under a minute left. Green’s performance was doubly-important as the 6-9 forward was matched-up against his bigger opponent, in both size and name, 7-0 Serbian center Darko Milicic (18 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks). Yotam Halperin added 17 points for Israel. Milan Gurovic scored 19 points for Serbia.

Lithuania 84: Germany 80 (game thread)
In a battle of the two unbeatens in group C, Lithuania was able to squeeze out a close-win after almost forfeiting a 21-point lead against Germany. With 11 seconds remaining, Dirk Nowitzki hit two free-throws (after hitting a three the previous possession) to bring Germany within one, but an untimely offensive foul by Ademola Okulaja on Germany’s next possession closed out any chance for Team Germany. Nowitzki put up 28 points and 9 rebounds while Ademola Okulaja had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Darjus Lavrinovic led Lithuania with 18 points, Sarunas Jasikevicius added 15 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds and Ramunas Siskauskas had 13 points and 6 rebounds.

Portugal 77: Latvia 67 (game thread)
Andris Biedrins scored 14 points, grabbed a tournament-high 18 rebounds and blocked 3 shots for Latvia, but that wasn’t enough to overcome his team’s overall 27% from the field. On the other side, Portugal was an efficient 9-18 from three and 90% (20-22) from the free throw line. Portugal was led by forward Joao Santos who scored 14 points and had 8 rebounds, and Mário-Gil Fernandes had 14 points. For Latvia, Kristaps Janicenoks hit 4-6 from three, 9-10 from the free throw line and scored 22 points, but missed all five of his two-point attempts.

Even with the win, it did not guarantee Portugal a spot into the next round. Croatia would have to defeat Spain for the Portuguese to advance, and if the Spanish beat Croatia, Latvia would move on.

Slovenia 67: France 66 (game thread)
Slovenia continues to surprise, bringing their overall mark to 3-0 with an impressive win over France.

Slovenia led 67-65 with 0.1 seconds left. Tony Parker, the 2007 NBA Finals MVP, went to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game with two free throws, but was only able to convert one. France focused their defense on Jaka Lakovic (Lakovic only got one shot up; he missed), so his backcourt mate Domen Lorbek responded with 15 points (5-5 from the field). Matjaz Smodis added 15 points and 6 rebounds for the Slovenians. Despite missing the crucial free-throw, Tony Parker scored 25 points for Las Bleus and Ronny Turiaf had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Russia 61: Greece 53 (game thread)
Greece just couldn’t get their offense going against the Russians today and succumbed from 37% from the field and 58% from the free-throw line. Super Greek backcourt Dmitrios Diamantidis and Theo Papaloukas combined for 16 points, 9 turnovers and just 2 assists. Andrei Kirilenko collected 17 rebounds, 12 points and 5 turnovers for Russia, while JR Holden scored 17 points. V asillis Spanoulis led Greece with 12 points but shot just 3-9 from the field and 4-8 from the free throw line.

Turkey 80: Czech Republic 72 (game thread)
The Turks got their first win over the tired-Czechs. Mehmet Okur and Hidayet Turkoglu led Turkey to a 15-2 start, and the duo finished with 16 points at the end of the first quarter. The Czechs fought back in the next quarter, to come within three, but another 15-0 run expanded the Turkish lead to 46-31 at the half.

CR made a couple more runs in the second half, but wouldn’t be able to overtake Turkey. Lubos Barton scored 22 points for the Cezch Republic. For Turkey, Memo Okur finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Turkoglu scored 22 points, had 5 rebounds and 5 turnovers. Ibrahim Kuatluay scored 17 points after being held to zero points yesterday by Germany.

Croatia 85: Spain 84 (game thread)
In a day of upsets, this was probably the biggest one. Marko Tomas hit a three with 3.1 seconds left and Rudy Fernandez couldn’t convert the final shot; lifting the Croatian National Team over the 2006 World Champions Spain.

Spain, had been unbeaten for not only the two games of EuroBasket, but for 28 straight international competitions going back. The win gave the Croatians the top seed coming out of Group B.

Rudy Fernandez had a chance to win the game, but his drive into the heart of the Croatian defense yielded no basket. As the Spanish team complained that Fernandez was fouled on the drive, the Croatians celebrated their win. The three Markos led the Croatian team: Marko Popovic scored 18 points, Marko Banic grabbed 9 rebounds (+12 points), and Marko Tomas passed for 4 assists in addition to hitting the game-winning three. Pau Gasol’s 26 points led the Spanish, Rudy Fernandez added 14 points and 3 steals and Felipe Reyes had 10 points and 10 rebounds. With the win, Croatia will face Israel in the first round, while Spain will face Greece.

Italy 79: Poland 70 (game thread)
The stakes were high- the winner of this game would move on, the loser would go home. Poland finished the first quarter with a 16-14 lead, but Italy would capture the rest of the quarters, behind a strong second that included a 22-6 run. Marco Belinelli led Italy with 20 points and Andrea Bargnani went for 19 points and 7 rebounds. Lucasz Koszarek put up a double-double for the Polish, 10 points and 11 assists. Andrzej Pluta scored 15 points and Adam Wojcik had 12 and 6 rebounds. Massimo Bulleri added 10 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds for Team Italy.

With the completion of today’s games Latvia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Poland have been eliminated from the tournament. The top three teams from the four groups move into two groups of six in the second phase, which starts in Madrid on Friday, September 7th, with the results from the first phase carrying over.

Eurobasket 2007 is upon us. Sixteen European National teams are vying to be the king of Europe and more importantly, for two spots to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

With Israel winning the final wild card spot on Friday against FYROM, all 16 teams are now set and all will be competing on the first day. Some of the more anticipated matches are Turkey taking on Lithuania, Serbia vs. Russia, and Italy against Slovenia. The first days schedule can be found below:

A/2: Serbia-Russia @ Granada, 18:00
C/1: Czech Republic-Germany @ Palma de Mallorca, 18:00
B/2: Latvia-Croatia @ Sevilla, 19:00
D/1: Poland-France @ Alicante, 19:00
A/1: Greece-Israel @ Granada, 20:30
C/2: Lithuania-Turkey @ Palma de Mallorca, 20:30
B/1: Portugal-Spain @ Sevilla, 21:30
D/2: Italy-Slovenia @ Alicante, 21:30

Eurobasket is the last regional championship and will determine which two European teams will go to the 2008 Olympics. It is also expected to be the most competitive of all the regional championships with up to ten contenders.

Spain, the 2006 World Champions and hosts of EuroBasket are the early favorites for just those reasons; they have home court and are expected to have all their main players that helped them to the gold medal in 2006 - Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, Jorge Garbajosa, Carlos Jimenez, Alex Mumbru, Marc Gasol and Sergio Rodriguez

However, one cannot discount the 2006 World Championships silver medalists Greece, who will also bring back the majority of their core team: Theodoros Papaloukas, Dimitris Diamantidis, Nikos Zissis, Lazaros Papadopoulos, and Vassilis Spanoulis (Antonis Fotsis is injured and Sofoklis Schortsianitis was kept off the team as he was reportedly way above his playing weight).

Nor should anyone count out Lithuania who will have Sarunas Jasikevičius back running the show along with one of Europe’s best forwards in Ramūnas Siskauskas, and the inside muscle of Darius Songaila (Washington Wizards), Robertas Javtokas, and Linas Kleiza (Denver Nuggets).

France is looking to improve upon their previous performances, “It’s two straight third-place finishes at the Euros and now it’s time to make that final step,” said Tony Parker. In addition to Parker, France boasts three other NBA Players - Boris Diaw, Yakhouba Diawara, and Ronny Turiaf.

Turkey welcomes NBA All-star Mehmet Okur and Hidayet Turkoglu back on the Turkish National team. They will join a very talented squad that includes promising young prospects Cenk Akyol and Ersan Ilyasova, veteran shooter Ibrahim Kutluay, center Kaya Peker, and guard Engin Atsür of North Carolina State University.

Other countries expected to make some serious noise are Italy, Russia, Slovenia and when it comes to international tournaments, any team that has Dirk Nowitzki on their roster is always considered a threat.

Eurobasket starts out with four groups (A-D) each with four teams who will play each other once. Then the top three teams from each group advance to two six-team qualifying-round. The top eight teams (four from each group) will advance to the quarterfinals. Madrid will host the final on Sept. 16.

[Eurobasket 2007 forum] [official site]