Just seconds earlier Tolliver dropped a nail in the coffin corner three-pointer over the outstretched arms of Dirk Nowitzki. But the 98-82 fourth quarter lead over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks was not the source of celebration.

Instead it was Minnesota Timberwolves rookie point guard Ricky Rubio that had Tolliver, and the entirety of the Target Center, in an uproar.

Rubio, the heralded rookie sensation from Spain, had just lost future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd with a crossover towards the baseline. As Nowitzki rotated over to close the baseline, one foot near the line to close all avenues of escape, Rubio calmly skipped a pass between the 7-footer’s legs.

For Tolliver, it was the sort of spectacular pass that left missing not an option.

Early on in his young NBA career much of what Rubio has done is of the can’t miss variety.

With Rubio and Kevin Love the Minnesota Timberwolves have quietly become everyone’s NBA Leauge Pass go-to team. Entertaining enough for fans to catch when their favorite team isn’t playing, not yet threatening enough to build rivalries with. Not unlike the early Oklahoma City Thunder team.

There have been lesser rookies that put up better numbers than Rubio’s nearly 10 points and 7.6 assists a night, but few have cultivated the imaginations of the masses the was his nightly passing displays have.

Many NBA players have remarkable court vision–the ability to see the floor and find players as they come open. LeBron James, for example, has put up gaudy assist numbers throughout his career for his ability to create holes in the defense and making the open pass.

What Ricky Rubio has is more akin to court omniscience.  He sees the play before the player comes open. It’s a rare quality shared by few superstars throughout NBA history Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Manu Ginobili, and Chris Paul to name a few.

Athletic, but not blessed with elite athleticism, Rubio stays steps ahead of NBA defenses by processing information much quicker than his opponents. It’s as if before each dribble or step Rubio foresees the endless possible outcomes of each action and immediately chooses the best one.

A dribble here moves a defender there and suddenly Kevin Love is open from behind the three-point line. Just a fraction of second slowing his pace in transition and defenders slow up just enough to hit fellow rookie Derrick Williams streaking to the rim.

And the magic is not just limited to offense either. While scouts questioned his ability to defend NBA point guards (with the current NBA rules, can anybody?), Rubio has been able to hold his own at times, using quick feet and his natural instincts to stay in front of and challenge the likes of Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker.

That’s not to say there are not some bumps to come for the young rookie. Rubio turns the ball over a bit too often (3.2 a game), and while his shooting has been much better than advertised, his lack of finishing ability still limits his ceiling to a certain extent.

But the Wolves are fun and relevant again, and a large part of that has been Rubio would seem–as Tolliver can attest to–too good to be true.

For a moment in time the Memphis Grizzlies sat atop the basketball world, upsetting the no. 1 seed San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2011 NBA playoffs.

It was a near historical run for a young Memphis team–only the second eighth seed to take out a first seed since the NBA switched its first round format to a best of seven. And wile the moment provides the Grizzlies with something to build on, success also brings something to guard against: the disease of more.

More minutes, more shots, more numbers, more money. Jim Collins, Author of “How the Mighty Falls,” calls it “the undisciplined pursuit of more.”

Hubris from Stage 1 (“We’re so great, we can do anything!”) leads right to Stage 2, the Undisciplined Pursuit of More, “more scale, more growth, more acclaim, more of whatever those in power see as “success.” Companies in Stage 2 stray from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place, making undisciplined leaps into areas where they cannot be great or growing faster than they can achieve with excellence, or both.

So much of last year’s success for the Memphis Grizzlies was dependent on chemistry, players falling into specific roles that created a sum great than its parts. While Memphis found a foundation to build upon, the resulting platitudes also upset it a little headed into training camp.

“Well I thought [what we did last year was good for the growth of the team] until we started training camp and had to start back from scratch,” Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins said. “Players today grow, but as you start to have success people tend to want to have their roles expanded. So you’ve go to go through a training camp, start bringing them back together, and start building that chemistry again.”

“I think we had a little success and people wanted to be more for themselves, or whatever their agenda was,” he added. “I think the best thing that happened to us, even though I hated it, was not being able to play for so long and guys were away and not getting those pats on the back about what we’d done.

“Unfortunately we came back and that’s all people wanted to talk about: last year. Last year was definitely last year.”

If the Memphis Grizzlies needed any further proof of that they needed only look at their return to the site of their greatest success, falling to the same San Antonio Spurs they defeated just months ago in a sloppy, turnover plagued 82-95 loss.

Against a Spurs team whose already thin frontline was watered down further with early foul trouble to Tim Duncan, the Grizzlies deviated from what brought them success las season–force-feeding power forward Zach Randolph.

Randolph had only eight shot attempts in route to 10 points while Rudy Gay, who missed most of the Grizzlies successful run last season with a shoulder injury, hijacked the offense to the tune of 18 shot attempts (making eight) for 19 points.

Gay is not a peripheral piece, he’s a key member of the core, and integrating him with the success the team had last year will mean checking his own ego at the door.

“I told him you your shelf life is short, you need to go out and maximize your time. All players time here is fragile,” Hollins said. “And you also saw that the league will keep going on when you’re gone, so don’t think so highly of yourself that you’re indispensable.”

Gay wasn’t alone as Grizzlies perimeter players forced the action, largely ignoring Randolph and Marc Gasol (5-16, 13 points), who ran roughshod over the Spurs frontline last season.

“I don’t think we were playing at a pace that we need to be playing at,” Memphis point guard Mike Conley said. “We’re not moving the ball side-to-side, we have a bit of indecision when it comes to second and third options.

“We have to do a better job of moving the ball and getting the big fellas the ball early.”

This is not to pick on Memphis too much after one game, but rather something to keep an eye on as the season goes along.

Because so much of the Grizzlies success depends on turnover plagued Tony Allen being a neutral enough offensive player to stay on the court to supply his suffocating brand of defense instead of contributing four of the Grizzlies’ 24 turnovers trying to isolate Manu Ginobili.

Or Mike Conley efficiently running the offense through Randolph and Gasol while picking his spots in transition.

“We have to go out there and practice and be patient,” center Marc Gasol said. “Just keep working for the right reasons to get to the next level. This year is a whole differe year, we have to work pretty much from scratch.”

Fortunately for the Memphis Grizzlies they would appear to have the right man for the job in head coach Lionel Hollins.

“My primary goal is to let them know not to get deluded into believing all the hype of last year,” Hollins said. “Last year is done, we have to build and create magic this year.

“And the way you create it is to go to the gym, work hard, and play for each other. You make sacrifices, go to work and get it done.”

It wasn’t until later in Bird’s career, and after he had retired that I began to look past my prejudice and really appreciate the man’s basketball ability.

Bird is the owner of one of my top-3 favorite NBA plays of all time. Bird is one of 4-5 players in NBA history that could pull a play like this off; he had the hustle, creativity, and court I.Q.

Amazing. Bird hustles to the rebound, pops the ball out of Clark Kellogg’s hands, and as the ball shoots straight up in the air, Bird sees teammates streaking down the court.

In one motion, Bird jumps up in the air, grabs the ball, cocks back and throws a baseball pass down the court – resulting in a Robert Parish dunk.

Larry Bird was a phenomenal passer in a regular offense, but a lot of his highlight passes were only possible because he sacrificed his body and took chances.

Bird’s hustle caused chaos because if he stole the ball or threw his body around to create opportunities, the defense was unprepared, and Larry Bird took advantage of those situations.

Take a look at some of his career highlight passes at YouTube and you’ll see what I mean.

• Larry Bird: Greatest Passer of All-Time
• Larry Bird: Greatest Passer of All-Time part 2
• Larry Bird: Greatest Passer of All-Time part 3

In the end, Rubio contributed 6 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals in a 24 minute debut win against the Milwaukee Bucks.

At least two key cogs of the Mavericks championship run will receive their rings as a member of the visiting team later in the season. Tyson Chandler, the backbone of the defense that put the Mavericks over the top, and J.J. Barea, representing the dribble drive game the legs of Jasons Kidd and Terry can no longer consistently summon.

In their place now stand additions Lamar Odom, Vince Carter, Delonte West, and Brandon Wright. While Odom is an intriguing piece whose versatility helps soften the blow of losing Chandler, the important factor that connects each of their offseason acquisitions is their contracts, and the one year remaining on them.

In shortchanging their offer to center Tyson Chandler, the Mavericks were trying to preserve salary cap flexibility moving into next summer’s free agency. The Mavericks are walking that tenuous line between defending their championship and rebuilding on the run.

It’s a risky proposition for Mark Cuban and the rest of the Mavericks front office. They have an eye on a star-studded 2012 free agent class featuring Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, and Chris Paul that may not exist.

The trade winds are blowing with hurricane force, and one imagines if any trades involving the Nets, Hornets, or Magic occur it will be with those players signing extensions that will take them off next year’s market.

Short of landing one of those players, the new financial responsibility Cuban is displaying could be a huge loss.

Elite players on both sides of the ball win championships. The Dirk Nowitzki that destroyed playoff opponents last year will still be around for a few more seasons, even as the rest of the core depletes due to age.

But players like Nowitzki are rare, and when you have one, you ride it as long as you can. In Tyson Chandler, the Mavericks finally found a player that clicks perfectly alongside Nowitzki after years of a revolving door of big names.

The Mavericks still remain a formidable team, but in a chaotic season continuity would have been gold. Now the Mavericks have to rebuild their defenses on the fly in a shortened training camp, and if things don’t fall just right, rebuild next season in earnest.

Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that the New Orleans Hornets have started telling other teams that they plan to send CP3 to the Lakers in a trade for Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. Here’s the tweet:

The Hornets have started to inform teams that they’re sending Chris Paul to the Lakers for Bynum and Odom, league sources tell Y! Sports.

UPDATE: Ack!  As soon I hit the publish button – things have changed!  According to Yahoo! Sports. The trade now involves Pau Gasol in a HUGE 3-team trade:

…the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Hornets have struck a deal that would send MVP-level point guard Chris Paul to the Lakers… In the deal, Houston would ship Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, and Goran Dragic to the Hornets and receive Pau Gasol in return from the Lakers. Los Angeles would also have to send Lamar Odom to the Hornets, and this is about as massive as these things get.

Ah, I miss the NBA, blockbuster trades, and slam dunks. I am tired of recreating NBA-style dunks on my adjustable basketball goal. To discuss NBA trades, go to our NBA Forum.

Yes, Deron Williams played well in his short 15 game stint in Turkey.  During the NBA lockout, the NBA All-Star averaged 21.8 points and 6.5 assists, but to have his jersey retired?  This smells of a public relations move.

Anyways, what an honor!

Check out the original article at SLAM magazine.

The Interbasket forums were in dire need of an upgrade. Please be patient.

I promise it will be worth the wait. The new forum software is much more responsive and has a load more features to play around with, connect socially and gives you more all-around control of the forum experience.

In the meantime, in order to stay updated on the forum’s status or if you’re dying to discuss basketball, go to our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/interbasket

Thanks again,

Stuart

The ‘Genius of Sibenik’ is what some called Drazen Petrovic.

Others referred to him as the ‘Mozart of Basketball’ or simply as ‘Amadeus’.

There will never been another like the Croatian legend.

A player who blossomed into Europe’s most famous guard in the 1980s, Petrovic would have been 47 on October 22.

At the peak of his career in the summer of 1993, though, when Petrovic was an NBA player and less than a year on from his silver-medal winning contributions at 1992 Olympics for Croatia, Petrovic died in a car crash.

He was only 29.

Petrovic had accomplished so much already that he will forever be remembered as one of the best players ever in Europe.

He took his first steps in the game with Sibenik and played there until 1984 before going to Cibona Zagreb (1984-88), Real Madrid (1988-89), the Portland Trail Blazers (1989-90, and first half of 1990-91 season) and the New Jersey Nets.

Petrovic had his NBA success with the Nets, whom he joined midway through the 1990-91 campaign and played for through the 1992-93 season.

When it came to the NBA, he was a pioneer.

Top players from the old continent had yet to establish themselves in the league when he moved to America.

Petrovic, an All-NBA Third Team selection in 1993, blazed a trail for other Europeans to follow.

“If l learned anything in the NBA, then l learned to hold my own,” Petrovic once said. “No one’s going to push me around. I have a first and a last name, I’m not just some passer-by. I know that some people don’t like this, but they have to understand, no matter how miserable it makes them. There’s room for Europeans, and not only in episodic roles.”

For his national teams, Petrovic was magnificent.

He averaged 24.6 points for Croatia at the Barcelona Games.

Petrovic had shone for the former Yugoslavia at the Olympics in 1984 (Los Angeles) and ’88 (Seoul), when Yugoslavia captured bronze and silver, respectively.

At the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Argentina, Petrovic averaged 18.4 points in leading Yugoslavia to the gold medal.

Four years earlier, his 25.2 points per contest had led Yugoslavia to bronze at the World Championship in Spain.

So loved is Petrovic in his native land that there is a Drazen Petrovic Memorial Center in Zagreb.

His name will always be prominent in Sibenik, too.

On October 22, the city honored their favorite son by unveiling a bronze monument bearing his likeness next to the sports hall in Baldekin.

Petrovic was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, and five years later in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Read the original piece at FIBA.com.

Turiaf join fellow Frenchman Tony Parker, who is a part owner of Asvel and also has agreed to play for the club during the lockout.

Turiaf told Asvel’s website on Monday that he plans to arrive in France on tomorrow and begin practicing with the club this weekend.

Turiaf says he has recovered from a left hand injury that kept him out of this summer’s Eurobasket – the European Championships of basketball, where France lost to Spain in the finals.

Discuss Zydrunas Ilgauskas career in our forum.

Over his career, Ilgauskas played with just two teams – playing 12 seasons with the Cleveland Cavs and his final season with the Miami Heat – following LeBron James to Florida.  Big Z played in two NBA all-star games and had career averages of 13 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks.

Discuss the Asian Championships in our forum.

“This is the biggest moment of my life,” gushed Rasheim Wright, a catalyst for Jordan’s success in the last couple of years, who led the team’s scoring for the night with a 22-point game.

Sam Daghles and Zaid Abbas, as popular among the Chinese fans as they would be in Amman, exploded into cracker performance in the fourth quarter to take the game away completely from a Filipino outfit that looked far from the enthusiastic combination they had been in the tournament so far.

Simply out, Jordan had just outwitted, outsmarted, outplayed and outscored the Philippines.

Daghles scored 10 of his 16 points for the game and Abbas accounted for half his 14 points, in the fourth quarter to propel Jordan forward.

The two combined together – three times from the perimeter along with Abbas’ fast-break lay-up – to effect a 11-0 run just after the midway mark of the fourth quarter that sealed the issue in Tab Baldwin’s favor.

“There are no words to describe our feelings,” said Wright. “Two years ago, we came very close to making the final, but couldn’t had to be content with the bronze. This time around we have proven to the world the stuff we are made of,” the naturalized American said.

“I’ve never been more excited in my entire coaching career,” said Baldwin. “To me, Philippines and Iran posed similar challenges. We had to take their big guy (Marcus Douhtit) out like how we did with Haddadi. And we stopped their guards well,” Baldwin said.

“We shot miserably,” rued Philippines coach Rajko Toroman. “Jordan were the better team on the floor and they deserved to win,” he added.

“We’ll fight to win a medal now.”

Read the original article at FIBAasia.net.

Discuss the most valuable, disappointing players in Eurobasket 2011

As he has done throughout the tournament, Navarro once more led Spain to glory but perhaps the bigger story was the support he received compared to French star Tony Parker.

The San Antonio Spurs guard finished the night as France’s top scorer with 26 points but, with two of his three team-mates who also scored in double-digits – Joakim Noah and Nicolas Batum – allowing themselves to get in foul trouble early in a heated affair, it turned out to be long night at the office for France as they failed in their bid to win their first-ever EuroBasket gold medal.

With the two teams trading even blows over the opening 10 minutes, it was in the second quarter that the game really began to heat up as Serge Ibaka announced his arrival in the game in style and Rudy Fernandez earned himself the wrath of the French nation.

Going unnoticed in three minutes of playing time in the opening quarter, Ibaka roared to life in the first five minutes of the second frame, swatting five shots and scoring four points to see his side out to a 40-31 lead.

But with a minute and a half to play before halftime, Fernandez unintentionally provided the spark France needed as they trailed by 12 points.

With Parker going for a lay-up, Fernandez yanked him out of the air, earning himself an unsportsmanlike foul while leaving Parker lying momentarily motionless on the court.

To the relief of everyone, Parker got back to his feet and his team then ran off seven unanswered points to get back into the game.

Spain however scored the last four points before the break to push their advantage back up to nine, 50-41.

Fernandez finished the game with 14 points while Ibaka did not add to his second-quarter tally, but played an integral part in Spain’s win.

France were no doubt weary of what Navarro had been doing to opposing teams in the third quarter of games during the tournament and, despite their best efforts, ‘La Bomba’ lit up once more, scoring nine points in the period to see his team out to a commanding 13-point lead with 10 minutes to play.

France kept on fighting valiantly in the final period, but ultimately they were left with the same losing feeling dished out to their Davis Cup tennis team by the Spanish earlier in the day.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

But Argentina’s fascinating rise to basketball prominence is a story that should be told. One that would be best narrated in their own words, documented and enshrined in Springfield at their Hall of Fame induction speech.

Anything less for one of history’s greatest basketball teams would be unbecoming.

The 2011 FIBA Tournament of the Americas (forum), minus the United States, was as much a tribute to Argentina’s “Golden Generation” as it was an Olympic qualifying tournament. The core of Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni, Fabricio Oberto, and head coach Ruben Magnano—now with Brazil—burst on the international scene at the 2002 World Championships seemingly from nowhere, shocking the United States and finishing with a silver medal.

Sunday night’s championship marked another medal in a decade-long run of excellence, but it also signaled the beginning of its end.

In victory, against a watered down field that featured no United States, a depleted Brazil, and a streaky Puerto Rico team, victory was almost assured. But it hardly came easy. There were times, playing consecutive nights on aging legs, that Argentina looked old.

For the Golden Generation, athleticism was never what carried the day. But with an assortment of ailments, from ankles to hearts, their bodies struggle to handle the fearless grit and heart that once flowed so freely. It now comes in waves, ignited by sparks of brilliance from Manu Ginobili, nailing one step back three-pointer after another to put Puerto Rico Away. Or in Luis Scola’s mastery of fakes and midrange jumpers in a fourth quarter comeback against Brazil.

For one more tournament, at least, it was enough.

But even as a year from now is hardly promised to a team well into its 30’s, watching the Golden Generation celebrate in front of their home crowd hardly seemed like a farewell. The songs were not a goodbye, but a hero’s sendoff for what will be one final run next year at the London Olympics.

Whatever the outcome there, and regardless of where Argentine basketball goes from here, this is a team that deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame as one of the all-time greats—perhaps as the most important international team ever.

The Hall of Fame is not restricted to the NBA, it’s first and foremost a narrative of basketball in all its glory. And if the original 1992 Dream Team (inducted in 2010) gave rise to international basketball, then Argentina’s Golden Generation is their immediate legacy as the most impactful FIBA team since Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird joined forces.

There is the success that can be measured in the record books, medaling in every tournament from their arrival in 2002 until the World Championships in Turkey, highlighted by gold in Athens in 2004. And there are the factors harder to quantify.

It was assumed for some time that the rest of the world would eventually catch up to the United States in basketball. Teams improved exponentially every year since those 1992 Olympics inspired a young generation of foreign athletes. But no one could have pegged soccer rich Argentina as the country to finally break through.

It is inconceivable how a country with such little basketball foundations suddenly gave rise to a group of elite-to-solid players in the same age group that fit so cohesively. It is a formula that even Argentina itself is struggling to reproduce, having little depth outside of its 30-something year old stars. It would be akin to a group of friends, living in a small town without so much as a quality high school basketball team or basketball history, emerging as NBA All-Stars.

Yet there Argentina was in 2002, in a blur of movement and passing out of Magnano’s brilliant flex sets, implemented with individual moments of brilliant creativity from Ginobili and Scola, taking basketball back to its purest form. A team with a basketball IQ approaching that of the Dream Team with enough talent to turn it into something tangible.

And if the original Dream Team brought Argentine’s basketball to prominence, then it was Argentina that helped get the United States back on the right track. The current United States national program, comprised of a steady roster of America’s greatest talents, in a stable offensive and defensive system, can be traced back directly to the Americans’ losses to Argentina.

With a number of other great national teams having emerged around the world, and no depth behind their aging stars, London might not be so kind to Argentina. But for a group of friends that have accomplished so much, Argentina’s Golden Generation will never lose its shine.

Discuss the Macedonia-Lithuania game in our forum.

American-born (and naturalized Macedonian) Bo McCalebb led Macedonia with 23 points, while Vojdan Stojanovski hit all five of his 3-point shots on his way to 15 points.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Stojanovski said. “We kept the game close. We kept them to 65 points. We played very good defense and the pressure was on them at the end.”

The unlikely contender will now have to face basketball world power Spain, who easily defeated Slovenia 86-64, in the Eurobasket Final Four.  This is the first time that Macedonia has ever advanced this late in the Eurobasket tournament.