Video of NBA.com’s top play of the week for November 09, 2007: Manu Ginobili steals the ball off a bad pass from Yao Ming, and then adds insult to injury by dunking over the 7-5 Chinese center for the Houston Rockets. Despite the humiliating facial, Yao finished with 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks and the Rockets ended up winning the game 89-81.
NBA Season Commences (International NBA Players Recap) - The NBA started it’s 2007-08 season last night with three games on the schedule.
The San Antonio Spurs received their 06-07 championship rings and defeated the Greg Oden-less Portland Trailblazers 106-97. The Spurs international players were huge in the win; Frenchman Tony Parker scored 19 points, 
Manu Ginobili (Argentina) had 16 points, 8 assists and 5 steals, and Francisco Elson (Netherlands) scored 9 points with 5 rebounds.
Argentine superstar Luis Scola made his debut with the reloaded Houston Rockets in their 95-93 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The former Tau Ceramica superstar played only 8 minutes and accumulated 3 personal fouls, 3 rebounds and 1 turnover. “The court is different, the rules are different, the players, everything is different,” Scola said. “But at the end of the day, it’s just basketball.” I’m confident that Scola will find his way - after all he was the ACB MVP and Fiba America’s MVP in 2007. Source: Luis Scola Set for NBA Debut (FIBA)
Yao Ming scored two critical baskets towards the end of the game and finished with 25 points, 12 rebound, 3 assists and 3 blocks helping the Rockets to overcome 45 points from Kobe Bryant.
Andrei Kirilenko was back with the Utah Jazz and showed little effect from his publicized trade demands over the offseason. The Russian 2007 Eurobasket MVP put up a typical statline — 9 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 blocks in a 117-96 win over the Golden State Warriors.
This game also featured the debut of Marco Belinelli. The rookie from Italy had an eye-opening summer league for Golden State averaging 22.8 points (including a 37 point summer league debut), but Marco only saw 12 minutes in his NBA debut and scored 6 points. French hold-out Mickael Pietrus score 17 points and grab 5 rebounds for the Golden State Warriors.
Euroleague champions Panathinaikos went into Texas on October 11th and 13th, and got demolished by the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs.
The Greek club got blown out in both pre-season matches held in the lonestar state; 107-71 by the Houston Rockets on Thursday and 113-91 by the NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
Though only preseason friendly matches that usually is there to showcase non-rotation players, it doesn’t help David Stern’s assertation that PAO is ready to play in the NBA
Related: NBA/Euroleague Games in 2007/08, Duncan’s 20 points leads Spurs over Panathinaikos (Yahoo), Stern: Panathinaikos ready for the NBA
After being released by the San Antonio Spurs last week, Vasilieios Spanoulis signed a contract with his former club and this years Euroleague champion Panathinaikos.
Spanoulis averaged 2.7 points in 31 games for the Houston Rockets during the 2006-2007 season before being sent to their state rivals, the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs obtained Spanoulis on July 12 - along with a 2009 second round pick - from the Rockets in exchange for little-used center Jackie Butler and the rights to Argentinian superstar Luis Scola (played for TAU Vitoria during the 2006-2007 season). Earlier this summer, Spanoulis spoke to the Spurs and expressed his wish to return to Greece. He was released by the Spurs on August 23.
Panathinaikos announced his return today. According to latest reports Spanoulis signed a 3-year contract with the club from Athens.
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