In a battle of two of the East’s top teams, it took a great birthday performance by LeBron James and a late, shot-clock beating three-ponter from Anderson Varejão for the Cleveland Cavs to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 106-101.

With the game tied at 101, LeBron James couldn’t find an opening against defenders Josh Smith and Al Horford.

James got into the lane, but passed the ball off to Mo Williams, who fumbled his dribble before passing off to the 6-11 center from Brazil with three seconds left on the shot clock.

From there Varejão, who had missed all 18 of his three-point attempts up until that shot, had no choice but to take the shot from long range.

James, who turned 25 that night, scored a season-high 48 points, along with 10 rebounds and 6 assists. The 48 points were the most LeBron has ever scored at home.

“That’s a great gift,” James said of Varejão’s timely shot. “I had Andy in the gift exchange and so he paid me back. That’s what friends are for.”

The Cavs have defeated the Hawks twice in two nights. They won in Atlanta the night previous, 95-84. The Cleveland Cavs improve to 26-8 while the Atlanta Hawks drop to 21-10.

It’s been a busy week for FIBA as they announced the four wild cards on Saturday, and determined the top four seeds for the World Championships of Basketball on Sunday.

Now the federation that overseas international basketball has announced the draw results that will determine the groupings for the 2010 world basketball event in Istanbul, Turkey.

The 24 participating nations were drawn into four groups of six teams each:

• Group A: Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
• Group B: Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
• Group C: China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
• Group D: Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand

(Discuss the draw results in our forum)

The draw was held at the the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, on 15th December 15th, 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

The draw was conducted jointly by FIBA and the LOC in the presence of participating nations’ representatives, “National Federation members, prominent public figures and members of the international media.”

The FIBA World Championships are held every four years and determines the world’s top country in basketball.

The Cleveland Cavalier’s Anderson Varejão was honored with the 2009 Olympic Brazil award for the best player of the country.

This year has been special for the 27-year old Brazilian Varejão as he was a key component to the 2008-09 Cavs,  who recorded an NBA-best 66-16 record, but fell to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Individually, Varejao had his most successful season in Cleveland as he put up a career high 8.6 points on career-high shooting percentages (53.6% FG, 61.6% FT) as well as 7.2 rebounds per game.

The 6-11 forward/center returned to the Brazilian National Team after a three-year absence and helped the squad take gold in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship this past summer in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Varejão won the vote from the Brazilian Olympic Committee which is comprised of current and former players, journalists, sport managers, and other athletes defeating other Brazilian basketball nominees such as Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, Marcelo Machado, and Marcelo Huertas.

On Tuesday, eleven basketball legends that greatly contributed to the game of basketaball as players, coaches, referees, or contributors were inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in Alcobendas (Madrid, Spain).

The men and women of the 2009 inductees included US and NBA great Oscar Robertson (USA), national team hero Ricardo González (Argentina), women’s basketball legend Jacky Chazalon (France), referee Artenik Arabadjian (Bulgaria), and coach Pedro Ferrández (Spain).

Phostumous inductees include big man coache Pete Newell (USA) and women’s NCAA coach Kay Yow (USA), Ubiratan Pereira (Brazil), referee Marcel Pfeuti (Switzerland), and contributor Luis Martin (Spain).

The  inductees, except for Chazalon, were in Katowice, Poland, on Sunday to watch the final day of EuroBasket before flying out to Spain to take part in their induction ceremony.

Boston Celtic great Bill Russell, who was inducted 2 years ago in the FIBA Hall of Fame’s first class, was also in Spain to take part in the ceremonies.

“It’s an honor to be inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame,” the now 84-year old González said to FIBA.com. “To be recognized for my career as a basketball player is a wonderful feeling and it gives me great pride.”

San Juan, PR – Brazil barely squeaked by Puerto Rico 61-60 to capture te gold medal in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championships.

(Discuss the game)

Brazil steadily built up a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter before the hosts tightened up their defense to gradually pick away at Brazil’s margin.

Puerto Rico’s AD Vasallo led the charge in the final quarter, the 6-6 shooting guard scored all of his nine points in the fourth quarter but missed the second of two free-throws with 33 seconds remaining that could have tied the game at 61.

Leandro Barbosa led Brazil with 24 points, but did most of his damage was in the first three as he was held to just three points in the crucial fourth quarter. Tiago Splitter added 13 points with 9 rebounds for the Brazilian squad.

Carlos Arroyo top-scored for Puerto Rico with 14 points, but missed a three at the end of the game that would have won it for the hosts.

Both teams shot under 40% for the game. Brazil’s was 9-1 in the tournament, their only loss coming at Puerto Rico’s hands in the final day of the quarterfinals – they also won the 2005 tournament.  Puerto Rico finished the tournament with a 8-2 record.

Argentina takes Bronze; Scola wins MVP
Argentina finished the Americas tournament with a bronze medal, defeating Canada 88-73 in the third place game. Argentina used a dominant first quarter to break the Canadians, outscoring them 31-8 in the initial period.  Paolo Quinteros scored all of his 13 points in that first quarter.

Houston Rocket’s forward Luis Scola again led his team with 27 points.  Euroleague playmaker Pablo Prigioni scored 17 and added 8 assists.

For Canada, Jermaine Anderson scored 19 points and had 11 assists; Levon Kendall and Aaron Doornekamp added 12 points and 11 points respectively.

Scola was named MVP of the tournament after the Houston Rockets forward averaged a tournament high 23.3 points per game and was the unquestioned leader of the Argentinians. Carlos Arroyo and Tiago Splitter also were considered in the voting.

The top-two seeded teams will battle for FIBA Americas gold tomorrow.

Brazil and Puerto Rico each won their semi-finals game today and will meet up for the second time in three days.

Puerto Rico handed Brazil their first loss on Friday night 74-70, and though both teams had a 7-1 record, Brazil ended up with the number one seed due to their goal average against Argentina and Canada.

(Click here to discuss the FIBA Americas final between Brazil and Puerto Rico in our forum)

In today’s semi-finals, Puerto Rico halted Argentina’s run of six straight wins with an 85-80 victory while Brazil used a great third quarter to handle Canada 73-65.

Carlos Arroyo continued his resurgent play for Puerto Rico with 19 points. Luis Scola scored 31 points for the Argentina side.

Brazil got 22 points from Leandro Barbosa, and Joel Anthony pulled in 17 points and 8 rebounds for the Canadians.

Both Brazil and Puerto Rico have eight wins and one loss going into tomorrow’s final game.  Canada and Argentina will play for the bronze medal. More importantly, all four teams have qualified for the World Championships next year.

In a battle of two heavyweights on the last day of the FIBA Americas quarterfinals, Puerto Rico blew a 19 point lead in the fourth quarter, still ended up winning the battle, but losing the quarterfinals war to Brazil.

Despite giving Brazil their first loss of the tournament, and having the same record, Puerto Rico still ended up second because Brazil’s goal average against Argentina and Puerto Rico.

The Puerto Ricans needed to win the match by six points to finish in first place, instead they won by four 86-82.

By giving up a 73-54 lead with 7 1/2 minutes remaining, and only winning by four points, Puerto Rico must now face the red-hot Argentinians, who have won six games in a row while Brazil will play Canada.

Angel Daniel (AD) Vassallo finished with 20 points on a perfect 8-8 from the field (5-5 2pt, 3-3 3pt, 1-1 ft) in only 19 minutes of play. Larry Ayuso top-scored with 25 points  and Carlos Arroyo finished with 16 points and 6 assists.

Anderson Varejao led Brazil with 22 points including an all-important three-pointer with 12 seconds left that created the  final margin in favor of Brazil. Tiago Splitter added 19 points and Marcelo Machado had 15.

The FIBA Americas semifinals begin Saturday, August 5.

Three of the four Americas teams have punched their tickets to the 2010 World Championships to be held next year in Turkey.

At an undefeated 7-0, Brazil has already earned a spot in the World Championships by dominating their competition, and are now looking for gold with a stacked

Argentina and Puerto Rico are the two other teams that have also qualified.

After starting the tournament with two losses,  Argentina (5-2) has now won five straight games, handing the Puerto Ricans (6-1) their first loss, 80-78, of the tournament yesterday.

Must Win Situations
The fourth and final spot will be determined today in the last day of the quarterfinals between three teams: Dominican Republic, Canada, and Uruguay.

If the Dominican Republic (4-3) can record their fifth win of the tournament by defeating Canada today, the race is over and the Dominicans will move on based on overall record.

But if Canada (3-4) can pull out a win against the Dominicans, and Uruguay loses, the North American country will qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.  This all-important game between DR and Canada is set for 6:30 local time (Puerto Rico).

The third scenario involves Uruguay (3-4) forcing a three way tie between the teams.

If Uruguay can win their last game over red hot Argentina, who may rest their key players against their neighbors to the east. Uruguay can clinch a spot with a win coupled with a Canadian win over the Dominicans.

I scoured some images from the FIBA Americas Championship and pulled out my favorite twenty photos featuring Carlos Arroyo, Esteban Batista, Francisco Garcia, Anderson Varejao, Omar Quintero, Luis Scola, Guillermo Diaz, and more.

[Show as slideshow]

Photos are all courtesy of FIBA – Thanks FIBA!

Brazil and Puerto Rico maintained their perfect records, each winning their first game in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Americas Championship, for a unblemished 5-0 record.

Using a balanced lineup, Brazil has won their first four matches. They took first place in their tough preliminary group by downing the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina, and Panama.  Brazil would go on to crush Mexico 92-61 in their first quarterfinal game.

Thus far, Brazil has won their five matches by an average margin of 18.6 points.  They play Canada today.

Led by a resurgent Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rico has surprised, taking the Group A lead by winning all four of their qualification games and then winning their first quaterfinals match.

In their first five games, the hosts of the tournament have defeated their opponents by an average margin of 18.2 points.  Puerto Rico will take on the Dominican dream team today in day seven of the tournament.

If both Brazil and Puerto Rico can win their next two games, both Brazil and Puerto Rico will meet on the final day of the quarterfinals round with a perfect 8-0 record.

See the full FIBA Americas schedule at FIBA.com

Brazil continued their winning streak, downing Argentina 76-67, in day three of the FIBA Americas Championship.

Brazil jumped out to a 21-13 lead led by Anderson Varejão’s 11 first quarter points. But Argentina would go on a 8-2 run to start the second quarter to trim to lead to just two before Brazil went on their own run, outscoring Argentina 14-2 the rest of the quarter.

Brazil went into halftime up 14 points, 37-23.

The second half saw Brazil build double-digit leads only to see Argentina trim the lead to six twice, and five once, but wouldn’t get any closer than that as Brazil always had an answer.

Brazil was led by Leandro Barbosa‘s 21 points, Varejão’s 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals, and Marcelo Huertas’ 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.

Brazil’s starting five of Barbosa, Varejão, Huertas, Tiago Splitter, and Alex Garcia played 183 of the possible 200 minutes of the game.

Argentina was led by forward Luis Scola‘s was 9-16 from the field and tallied a team-high19 points. The rest of the Argentinian team shot just 36% on 17-47 shooting.

With the win, Brazil is now 3-0 and have defeated the other two favorites in their groupp, the Dominican Republic on day, and Argentina today. Brazil also defeated Venezuela.

With the loss, Argentina drops to 0-2 and is in danger of advancing past the prelimiary rounds. With losses to Venezuela and Brazil, the pressure is on Argentina to win out in their next two games vs. the Dominican Republic and Panama to have a chance at a berth to the 2010 World Championships.

I know it’s only a preliminary game, but is anyone as excited about the first day match-up between Brazil and the Dominican Republic as I am?

Brazil just came off a dominating performance in the Tuto Marchand Cup. With veterans Leandro Barbosa, Marcelo Machado, and Tiago Splitter leading the way, Brazil comes into the Tournament of Americas as one of the favorites.

The squad fielded by the Dominican Republic is supposed to be the best team the tiny island has ever assembled.

Powered by three current NBA players Francisco García, Al Horford, and Charlie Villanueva, DR is poised to take one of the four spots to the 2010 World Championships.

The game is full of talented players with Barbosa, Luis Flores, García, Horford, Marcelinho, Splitter, Anderson Varejão, and Villanueva.

Brazil is the more experienced team but the Dominican Republic has the “We get no respect“ swagger.  This is a game to watch – how will one of the favorites Brazil do against the blackhorse of the tournament?

The game is the second match of the day, after the U.S. Virgin Islands play Uruguay, and set to start at 4pm local time.  Follow day one of the FIBA Americas Championship in our forum.

Event: 2009 Americas Championships
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Discuss: Americas Championships Thread
Info: The tournament will determine which four teams qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships of Basketball.

The tournament will feature ten teams from Northern and Latin Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The favorites coming into the tournament is a solid Brazil team and the experienced Argentinians.

Brazil dominated the Tuto Marchand Cup with great efficiency with even contributions from Leandro Barbosa and Marcelo Machado in the backcourt, and Anderson Varejão and Tiago Splitter in the frontcourt.

Despite 2007 Americas MVP Luis Scola down low, Argentina didn’t fare as well in the Marchand Cup (0-3), but were without the services of Pablo Prigioni, who will join the team and run the point.

With Prigioni, Scola, as well as Federico Kammerichs and Leonardo Gutiérrez, team Argentina is still a power even without Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino, and Fabricio Oberto.

The unproven Dominican Republic team have looked great in preparation games and is the dark horse of the tournament.  The team maybe the best team RD has ever assembled and features three current NBA players in Francisco García, Al Horford, and Charlie Villanueva.

The three top contenders for gold, Argentina, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, will all compete in a very difficult Group B.  The other two teams are Panama, who is no slouch either and Venezuela.

In Group A, look for Puerto Rico to give out a good fight, especially playing at home, with veteran mainstays Larry Ayuso, Carlos Arroyo, and Daniel Santiago.

Canada will compete with swingmen Carl English, Andy Rautins with NBA player Joel Anthony in the middle.  The other three teams are Uruguay, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Mexico without Eduardo Najera.

The United States will not send a team to the tournament after receiving an automatic bid to the World Championships by winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The United States won the 2007 Americas Championship held in Las Vegas by going undefeated in their ten games.  The USA was led by Carmelo Anthony’s 21.3 points and LeBron James‘ all-around game and blistering 76% from the field (73-96 FG). Argentina captured the silver medal, and Puerto Rico defeated Brazil for the bronze medal.

This year’s Championships will feature several other high profile players including Romel Beck (Mexico), Esteban Batista (Uruguay), Luis Flores (Dominican Republic), Levon Kendall (Canada), Héctor Romero (Venezuela), and Óscar Torres (Venezuela).

Joel Anthony of Canada, as Brazil brushed off their oppoents in the 2009 Tuto Marchand Cup (Reuters)” src=”http://www.interbasket.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/marchand2009-anderson-varejao-joel-anthony-250×300.jpg” alt=”Brazil’s Anderson Varejao brushes off Joel Anthony of Canada, as Brazil brushed off their oppoents in the 2009 Tuto Marchand Cup (Reuters)” width=”203″ height=”243″ />San Juan, Puerto Rico – The Brazilian National Team went undefeated in the three-day, four team Tuto Marchand Cup tournament putting down Canada 87-69 in their final game on Thursday night.

Brazil dominated the field, winning each of their three games by an average of 14.3 points a game over Argentina, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

The Brazilians were led by their four star players Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejão, and Marcelo Machado.

Barbosa was Brazil’s top scorer in the three games, averaging 19.6 points. Frontcourt players Splitter (14 points and 7.3 rebounds) and Varejão (14.6 points and 8 rebounds) held down the middle.

Marcelinho played his normal all-around game, adding 11 points, 5.3 assists, and 6 rebounds per game.

“We are playing our basketball with joy and determination, regardless of the opponents,” Barbosa said. “Our goal is to reach the FIBA World Championship and we realize what we need to do.”

The Tuto Marchand Cup serves as preparaton for the upcoming FIBA Americas Championship in Puerto Rico set to tip off August 26.

“The team is evolving every day, every practice and every game.” Barbosa continued.

“We will arrive at the FIBA Americas Championship at an ideal point to run the competition and achieve our goals.” said Marcelinho.

In the win over Canada, Barbosa led the way for Brazil with 27 points while Tiago Splitter contributed 16 points, 8 rebounds, and Marcelo Machado added 12 points 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and  2 steals.

Brazil is in the very competitive group B in the FIBA Americas Championship, matched up with Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Venezuela.

Links and Resources: Brazil 91-76 Argentina Boxscore (FIBA), Brazil 80-70 Puerto Rico Boxscore (FIBA), Brazil 87-69 Canada Boxscore (FIBA)

Carl English shoots a jumper at the Puerto Rico Marchand Cup (AP)” src=”http://www.interbasket.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/carl-english-jumper.jpg” alt=”Canada’s Carl English shoots a jumper at the Puerto Rico Marchand Cup (AP)” width=”200″ height=”279″ />

The Tuto Marchand Cup commenced yesterday at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot.

The tournament features four-nations, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Puerto Rico, in three straight days of games in prepartion for the FIBA Tournament of Americas.

(Discuss Tuto Marchand Cup in our forum)

Argentina lost to Brazil 91-76 led by Leandro Barbosa‘s 18 points and 7 rebounds.  The Brazilians built upon their lead after each period as Team Argentina couldn’t shoot straight.

Outside of Luis Scola‘s 10-19 from the field, his Argentinian teammates were a combined 15-56, shooting just 26% for the game.

Tiago Splitter added 14 points 9 rebounds, 3 assists and Marcelo Machado had 11 points 7 rebounds and 6 assists for Brazil. Scola led Argentina with 28 points and six rebounds.

Puerto Rico defeated Canada 59-55 behind Larry Ayuso‘s 13 points. The Canadian loss could be attributed on a dismal second quarter in which they scored just four points. After a free throw by Andy Rautins and a three pointer by Tyler Kepkay, Canada wouldn’t score another point in the final 8:20 of the quarter.

However, the Canadians “exploded” for 27 points in the third to bring them within five points, 49-44, but another low-scoring quarter in the fourth would keep Puerto Rico on top.

Daniel Santiago had 7 points and 10 rebounds, and Filiberto Rivera added 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists for Puerto Rico.  Carl English was the top scorer for Canada with 14 points.  Carlos Arroyo suffered an injury as was limited to just 14 scoreless minutes.

The schedule and rosters for the three-day friendly tournament looks like this:

Aug 18: Argentina vs. Brazil
Aug 18: Puerto Rico vs. Canada
Aug 19: Canada vs. Argentina
Aug 19; Puerto Rico vs. Brazil
Aug 20: Brazil vs. Canada
Aug 20; Puerto Rico vs. Argentina

Argentina: Juan Pablo Cantero and Pablo Prigioni (PG); Paolo Quinteros and Diego Garcнa (SG); Sebastiбn Matнas Sandes and Federico Kammerichs (SF); Luis Scola, Leonardo Gutiйrrez, Leonardo Mainoldi and Andrйs Pelussi (PF); Romбn Gonzбlez and Juan Pedro Gutiйrrez (C).

Brasil: Duda Machado and Marcelo Huertas (PG); Alex Garcia, Diego Pinheiro, Jonathan Tavernari and Leandrinho Barbosa (SG); Guilherme Giovannoni and Marcelinho Machado (SF); Alexandre “Olivinha” and Anderson Varejão (PF); Joгo Paulo Batista and Tiago Splitter (C).

Canada: Jermaine Anderson, Tyler Kepkay and Ryan Bell (PG); Carl English and Andy Rautins (SG); Jermaine Bucknor, Olu Famutimi and Jevohn Shepherd (SF); Aaron Doornekamp, Kyle Landry and Joel Anthony (PF); Jesse Young; Levon Kendall and Phil Martin (C).

Puerto Rico: Carlos Arroyo, Filiberto Rivera, Christian Dalmau and Guillermo Dнaz (PG); Larry Ayuso, Joel Jones and Jesse Pellot-Rosa (SG); A.D. Vassallo and Carmelo Lee (SF); Бngelo Reyes, Ricky Sбnchez and Alex Falcуn (PF); Daniel Santiago (C).

The Marchand Cup is the final preparations before the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship that start August 26, 2009.