The ACB had a crazy finish between Unicaja Malaga and Real Madrid that saw four huge shots in the last 35 seconds of play.

With Real Madrid down 63-62, star Argentine play maker Pablo Prigioni launches and hits a huge three about 6-7 feet (2 meters) outside the three, putting up Madrid by two.

The next play sees former Toronto Raptor Jorge Garbajosa hit a corner three on a broken play to give Malaga 66-65 lead with 26 seconds remaining in the game.

Prigioni would bring up the ball, dribble down the clock, calmly run a pick and roll and hit another clutch three to put Real Madrid back up by two, 68-66 with just four seconds to play. It turned out to be about two seconds too much.

Former Clemson player and Euroleague star Terrell McIntyre ran down the court in 2.5 seconds, double-pumped and the lefty hit a three-pointer to give Unicaja Malaga the 69-68 overtime win.

Spanish point guard Sergio Rodriguez is headed home as reports say that Spanish club Real Madrid has signed the 6-3, 24-year old guard to a three-year contract.

(Discuss all the NBA signings and trades in our NBA Forum)

The New York Knicks acquired Rodriguez last season from the Sacramento Kings as part of the three-team deal that brought former scoring champion Tracy McGrady to New York in February.

Rodriguez, known as “Spanish Chocolate” because of his flashy passes, spent the first three years of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers. He teamed with fellow Spaniard Rudy Fernandez to develop a signature baseline alley-oop before being sent to the Sacramento Kings at the beginning of the 2009-10 season.

Rodriguez put up 7.4 points and 3.4 assists in 27 games while in New York and averaged 4.3 points and 2.9 assists during his four seasons in the NBA.

Rodriguez was a member of Spain‘s world championship-winning team in 2006 and will represent the country in this year’s World Championships of Basketball held in Turkey.

FC Barcelona have given Real Madrid fits all season, no matter what the competition.

On Thursday night, Ettore Messina and Madrid finally turned the tables and defeated their rivals 70-63 in the Euroleague to level their best-of-five Quarter-Final showdown at one game apiece.

(Discuss Real Madrid and the Euroleague in our forum)

The recent addition to the Real squad, rising Croatia star Ante Tomic, did most of the damage.

Messina’s men constantly fed Tomic in the low post and the 23-year-old delivered big style, making 10 of 15 shots on his way to a game-high 22 points.

The 2.17m Tomic also made his presence felt on defense, swatting four shots.

“I am very happy because I had the opportunity to show what I can do in such a high-level game like this is,” Tomic said. “Nobody knows me at this level and maybe that is why I played so well. I hope to do better and better in the upcoming games.”

Messina was very happy with his youngster.

“Tomic had a very good game, showing that we have found a player that gives us a reason to look to the future,” Messina said. “He is mature, is learning fast and we are happy to have brought him here.”

Pablo Prigioni, the Real Madrid playmaker and the starting point guard of Argentina‘s national team, had 12 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Even he had praise for Tomic, who played just over 33 minutes.

“Ante Tomic is giving our frontcourt a lot of consistency,” Prigioni said. “He is just what we needed and I hope we can help him to get better.”

As good as Tomic was, Messina said Madrid won thanks to his players’ execution on both ends of the floor.

“We played with a very good attitude, helping each other on the court, accepting our mistakes as part of the game, rebounding well and taking care of the ball on offense,” he said. “We had five turnovers and that was the key to this game.”

The Madrid defense caused Barcelona all sorts of problems.

Juan Carlos Navarro had just four points on one of nine shooting, including zero for four from three-point range, while his fellow Spain international backcourt mate Ricky Rubio drilled just one of his seven shots from the floor and had five points.

Barcelona were six of 23 (26%) from three-point range overall while Madrid wreaked havoc closer to the basket, making 22 of their 43 shots inside the arc..

The series now shifts to Madrid for Game 3 on Tuesday.

Remembering that Messina led CSKA Moscow to a couple of Euroleague crowns and two runners-up finishes, and looking at his star-studded roster, it’s safe to say that Barcelona have a fight on their hands to reach Paris.

Maccabi Tel Aviv leveled their series with Partizan Belgrade by winning 98-78 at home.

For the winners, Andrew Wisniewski and David Bluthenthal each had 17 points, D’Or Fischer 15, Alan Anderson 14 and Doron Perkins 10.

Maccabi must now show they can win in the hot atmosphere of the Pionir in Belgrade.

CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos are each one victory away from reaching the Final Four.

Lithuania international Linas Kleiza erupted for 26 points as Olympiacos defeated Asseco Prokom 90-73 at home.

Kleiza dominated, coming up a rebound shy of a double-double.

Greece international Theo Papaloukas, a former Final Four MVP with CSKA, made four of six shots from long range on his way to 20 points.

CSKA whipped Caja Laboral for the second straight game, 83-63.

Six players reached double figures in scoring for CSKA but one who did not – emerging Russia national team star Sasha Kaun – may have had the best game overall.

The 24-year-old center had nine points, eight rebounds and a block for Evgeny Pashutin’s team.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

Real Madrid of Spain is rumored to be offering Argentina superstar guard Manu Ginobili a contract worth $13.5 million for next season.

(Discuss Euroleague basketball in our forum)

Ramon Trecet of Spanish newspaper Marca has reported that Real are very interested in bringing the 32-year-old guard in and would be willing to pay him close to $3 million more than what he is earning this season.

Ginobili is set to become unrestricted free agent this summer after spending all eight of his NBA seasons to date with the San Antonio Spurs and playing a leading role in their three championships.

He is set to make $10.7 million in the final year of a deal he signed with the Texan team in 2004.

Earlier this month, Ginobili told FIBA that he looks forward to playing in the World Championship in Turkey, but that other things must be in order before he can do so.

His wife is due to give birth to twins and the former All-Star would like to spend as much time as possible with his family.

The 2004 Olympic gold medallist also hopes to resolve his free agent status and know where his future lies before he represents his country.

Ginobili has played for the Real Madrid’s current head coach, Ettore Messina, while with Italian side Virtus Bologna from 2000 to 2002.

Real Madrid also have expressed interest in Spanish national team guard Rudy Fernandez, who currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

Marko Jarić is returning to Europe and leaving the NBA behind him.

The 31-year-old Jarić signed with Spanish club Real Madrid to help shore up the playmaker position for Madrid with an injury to Sergio Llull.

(Talk Real Madrid and Spanish Basketball in our forum)

Jarić will be reunited with Italian coach Ettore Messina, his coach when he played alongside Manu Ginóbili for Kinder Bologna.

The trio helped the Italian club win the Euroleague and Italian league championships in 2001, nine years ago.

The 6-7 veteran guard from Serbia mutually agreed with Memphis that he would not attend training camp or any preseason games and Jarić had been granted permission to seek a new team.

Since leaving Italy in 2002 after being drafted 30th overall in the 2000 NBA Draft, Jarić has played for three NBA teams in eight seasons. He suited up for the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Memphis.

He averaged 7.1 points and 3.6 assists in 447 career NBA games. Jarić is currently married to Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima.

Real Madrid center Darjus Lavrinovič beat out his better known brother Kšyštof Lavrinovič, to win the Euroleague’s regular season Week one MVP

Darjus’ performance index rating of 49 ranks as the sixth-best total of the decade.

(Talk about Euroleague regular season basketball)

Darjus took home the honor despite Real Madrid losing to BC Khimki 84-81 in overtime.

However, Lavrinovič was unstoppable against the Russian club, putting up a point per minute.

Darjus collected 32 points in 32 minutes, as well as 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks and an amazing 11 fouls draw. Darjus went to the free-throw line 17 times, making 14 of his attempts.

Darjus’ twin brother Kšyštof had an index rating of 34 for Montepaschi Siena, making him the week’s MVP runner-up as Siena completely destroyed Cibona Zagreb 85-40. Ksistof put up 26 points with 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 assists.

Pete Mickeal of Regal FC Barcelona came in third with an index rating of 32 (26 points, 7 rebounds). In his Euroleague debut, Linas Kleiza of Olympiacos was fourth with an index rating of 31 (23 points, 9 rebounds) in a 94-72 win over Entente Orleanaise.

With so many pre-season games occurring between the NBA and Euroleague teams this month, we opened a thread in our forum creating a list of every NBA-FIBA games that have been played since 1978 when Maccabi Tel-Aviv defeated the Washington Bullets (!). Check it out here. You’ll find the remaining Euroleague-NBA pre-season matches below:

Oct 13 – Panathinaikos vs. San Antonio, 8:30pm (ET)
Oct 15 – Zalgiris Kaunas vs. Golden State, 10:30pm (ET)
Oct 17 – Zalgiris Kaunas vs. Toronto, 7:00pm (ET)
Oct 19 – Zalgiris Kaunas vs. Washington, 7:00pm (ET)

The NBA has played seven European clubs in the last week; winning five of the games and losing two of them – Unicaja Malaga defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 102-99, and Real Madrid downing Toronto 104-103.

Related: List all NBA-FIBA basketball games, Unicaja defeats Toronto Raptors, Euroleague/NBA Games in 07/08

The NBA Europe Live 2007 tour begins this Saturday as four NBA teams and five European teams will play several matches over the next five days.  Starting on October 6th, Efes Pilsen will take on the Kevin Garnett-less Minnesota Timberwolves in Istanbul, Turkey.  While the Toronto Raptors will battle the Boston Celtics in Rome, Italy.  The complete Schedule is below:

ISTANBUL
Efes Pilsen Istanbul vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 – 9:00 P.M.

ROME:
Toronto Raptors vs. Boston Celtics
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6 – 8:30 P.M.
Lottomatica Virtus Roma vs.Toronto Raptors
 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 – 6:30 P.M.

MALAGA
Unicaja Malaga vs. Memphis Grizzlies
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9 – 8:00 P.M.

LONDON
Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Boston Celtics
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10 – 7:30 P.M.

MADRID
MMT Estudiantes vs. Memphis Grizzlies
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11 – 6:30 P.M.
Real Madrid vs. Toronto Raptors
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11 – 9:30 P.M

Related Thread: NBA Europe Live 2007 

Despite all the obvious logistical nightmares. A report asserts that David Stern believes three Euroleague teams could be the next teams to expand into the NBA in 2010. The three teams reportedly mentioned in the expansion are CSKA, Panathinaikos, and Real Madrid. This was almost the same time last year to the day that rumblings about Real Madrid was being considered for the NBA. Another question is how would the NBA be received in Europe? Originally posted 08/18/2007

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