It’s been four, long years since United States coach Mike Krzyzewski and his star-studded squad lost to Greece in the Semi-Finals of the FIBA World Championship in Japan, a result that sparked celebrations in the streets of Athens.

(Join in on the action with our World Championships forum)

Follow USA-Lithuania, Serbia-Turkey in our Championship forum

Anything can happen on Semi-Finals Saturday.

It was also the day that Argentina almost beat Spain but an Andres Nocioni three-pointer from the corner hit the rim and stayed out.

You know the rest of the story.

Pau Gasol, hurt late in the Argentina game, missed the Final but his Spain teammates, wearing t-shirts that read ‘Pau tambien juega’, thrashed Greece in the gold-medal game and the USA overcame Argentina to capture bronze.

In 2010, the side that will attempt to upset the United States is Lithuania (follow USA vs. Lithuania), while Serbia will try to continue their remarkable run in Istanbul with a last-four battle against hosts Turkey (follow Turkey vs. Serbia).

The USA, Lithuania and Turkey have yet to lose a game at the FIBA World Championship while Serbia have just one defeat, a surprise double-overtime setback to Germany – one of the two teams that didn’t progress from Group A.

Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski steered his team to a win over Lithuania in Madrid before the World Championship.

That was merely a friendly, though, and the Lithuanians have grown in confidence since.

After watching them flatten Argentina in the Quarter-Finals on Thursday night, he stressed the importance of slowing the men from the Baltics down.

“We have to take away transition first and then make it difficult for them to run their half-court stuff,” Krzyzewski said.

Lithuania could not have played any better than they did against Argentina.

Losing coach Sergio Hernandez called it the best performance by any team at the World Championship so far.

It wasn’t just one, two or even three Lithuanian players that hurt the Argentinians.

Coach Kestutis Kemzura had several men reach double figures.

“The toughest international teams to defend put four shooters on the court, where the four (power forward) is also a good three-point shooter, and that’s what they do,” Krzyzewski said.

“Then when they sub at the center position, they actually have five good shooters. So you have to really point and talk because all of a sudden (Simas) Jasaitis can be trailing and there’s that left-hand three when you’re not talking. So they’re going to be aggressive.”

One of the more interesting comments made at this FIBA World Championship came on Thursday night after Lithuania’s big win.

Argentina coach Hernandez was asked if Lithuania could beat Team USA.

“Lithuania are playing better team basketball,” Hernandez said. ”The USA are playing NBA basketball, and this is FIBA, and I think it will be a great match.”

The Lithuanians, Hernandez will never forget, whipped the ball around the perimeter and hit jump shot after jump shot.

They also scored in transition.

The Americans do make passes, but also have shown the ability to beat teams with their individual, one-on-one game.

No team has stopped Kevin Durant, the Americans’ 21-year-old superstar and the leading scorer in the NBA last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Durant did struggle briefly against Russia early on in their USA’s Quarter-Final win but ended up with 33 points.

Should the Americans win the gold medal, it would seem he is a near certainty to be voted as the tournament’s MVP.

“The most important thing is not to leave him one on one,” Kemzura said. “Kevin Durant is a big problem for every opponent, but an even greater problem is the quick attack and aggressive defense (of Team USA).”

Turkey, meanwhile, will be roared on by their home crowd in the Sinan Erdem Dome.

They have looked a different class against every team here in Istanbul.

Slovenia certainly had no chance against them, losing 95-68.

“Before the tournament, we would have accepted to play in the (Semi-) Finals as a great achievement, but when you get this far, your appetite grows,” Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic said.

Serbia have knocked off some great teams in this tournament, though, and Ivkovic is likely to come up with a game plan that will give his team a good chance to win.

“They have a great team,” Tanjevic said. “Coach Ivkovic came up with nine very talented players at the 2009 European Championship, gave them the chance to play, supported them, and I have been admiring him and his team since.”

Tanjevic’s men lost twice to Serbia in the build-up to the World Championship.

“We weren’t at our best then and this time, the game will be different,” he said.

To catch all the Semi Final action on Saturday, plus highlights and interviews go to FIBATV.com.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

Spain has been knocked down again, this time being upset by Lithuania 76-73, giving up a 18-point second half lead over the basketball-crazy Baltic country.

(Discuss the Spain vs. Lithuania game in our World Championships forum)

After Spain scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, Lithuania used a 23-5 run the rest of the way to shock Spain into their second pool play loss.

Lithuania’s versatile power forward Linas Kleiza scored the final four points in the final 40 seconds to push his country to the three-point win.

Kleiza, a former NBA player, finished with 17 points to lead Lithuania. Martynus Pocius and Jonas Maciulis both put up 13 points. Spain was led by Marc Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro who each scored 18 points each, while Rudy Fernandez had 13 points.

The game was played Tuesday in Izmir, Turkey.

With this loss, and their loss to France in their first game, Spain falls to 1-2. With the win, Lithuania is 3-0 in their group and can finish at the top of  Group D at the basketball world championship if they defeat the other undefeated team in their group, France.

Lithuania and France will play tomorrow for the top place in group D.

Discuss the game in the Basketball Championships forum.

(TalkBasket) – Forward Linas Kleiza has been named the best Lithuanian basketball player of 2009.

The choice was made by a fan voting run by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation and the website delfi.lt.

The 24-year-old Olympiacos player received nearly 30 per cent of the votes, while Ramūnas Šiškauskas (CSKA Moscow) came second and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas (Cleveland Cavaliers) third. The Lithuanian international was surprised by the distinction and honoured, promising not to let the fans down.

lithuanian-of-the-year-2841.html”>Read the full article on TalkBasket

After leading Olympiacos with 19 fourth-quarter points in a comeback win against Entente Orleanaise on Thursday night, Linas Kleiza has come down with the Swine Flu.

(Talk Euroleague Basketball in our forum)

The virus knocked Kleiza out of commission for an undetermined amount of time.

Kleiza is Olympiacos’ leading scorer with 18.3 points over the club’s first six games of the season. Kleiza is currently undergoing treatment, but as mentioned, the timetable for his return is uncertain.

The former Denver Nuggest and Lithuanian star is the fifth Olympiacos player that has contracted the H1N1 virus – Josh Childress, Theo Papaloukas, Costas Papanikolaou and Sofokils Schortsianitis have also had the Swine Flu at various times this season.

(Click here for updated list of professional basketball players that have caught the Swine Flu or discuss the Swine Flu in our forum)

Olympicos’ next game is against Unicaja Malaga on Thursday, December 10th, 2009.

Theodoros Papaloukas (right), the 6-7 point guard extraordinaire tied a Euroleague record with 14 assists in Olympiacos’ tight 88-84 win over Entente Orleanaise last night.

(Discuss Papaloukas’ performance and Euroleague Week 6 in our forum)

The former Euroleague MVP teamed with Linas Kleiza, who had 19 fourth quarter points, in Olympiacos’ late comeback.

Papaloukas’ 14 assists is tied with former-UCLA, former NBA player, and former-Olympiacos player Tyus Edney.

The 32-year old Papaloukas not only owns four of the top ten individual performances for assists in one game (14 last night, 13, 12 twice), but is the all-time Euroleague career leader with a total of 792 assists.

Against Orleanaise, Papaloukas also scored 7 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and added 2 steals.

At the sold-out Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus, Josh Childress led Olympiacos with 19 points and 10 rebounds and his double-double helped the Reds to a 87-76 win over arch rivals Panathinaikos in a Final Four rematch of the Greek League on Sunday.

(Discuss the Green-Red game in our forum)

Theo Papaloukas added 20 points and Linas Kleiza 13 for the Reds. Drew Nicholas scored a team-high 18 for Panathinaikos, Vasileios Spanoulis contributed 17 points, and Dmitrios Diamantidis added 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in the loss.

The loss dropped the Greens to 4-1 and kept the Reds undefeated in the Greek League at 5-0. After the game, Childress will be traveling home to America for his father’s funeral.

Olympiacos of the Euroleague, dropped two straight exhibition matches to NBAsquads in the 2009 Euroleague American Tour; losing by an average of 17 points.

The Greek club with three NBA players that they signed away in the last two years, Josh Childress, Linas Kleiza, and Von Wafer, was felled by the San Antonio Spurs 107-89, and the Cleveland Cavs 111-94.

San Antonio Spurs 107 Olympiacos 89
The Spurs used a dominant first quarter, to take an 18 point lead after one, 39-21. Olympiacos would play San Antonio evenly for the rest of the game, but the Reds would never be able to make up for their slow start.

Second-year player George Hill led the Spurs with 17 points. Tony Parker had 12 points, while Tim Duncan and Roger Mason Jr. each added 10 points in the Spurs win.

Sofoklis Schortsanitis led the Reds with with 16 points. Childress and Wafer added 16 and 11 respectively. You can see the full boxscore for the game here.

Cleveland Cavs 111 Olympiacos 94
Against the Cavs, Olympiakos would falter in the second and third quarter; as they were outscored by 20 points in the middle quarters.

Daniel Gibson led seven Cleveland players in double-figures with 15 points. Anderson Varejao and JJ Hickson each had 13 points,  Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James added 12 points apiece, and Coby Karl and Anthony Parker both contributed 10 points.

Former NBA players Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza top-scored for Olympiacos with 16 points. Yotam Halperin added 15 points, Patrick Beverly 11, and Nikola Vujcic scored 9 points.

The Cavs shot 55% from the field, compared to Olympiacos’ 47.5%. James and Theo Papaloukas each had  a game-high 7 assists. For the full game boxscore, click here.

Another European team, Partizan Belgrade, also participated in the tour, losing both their games by 30+ points to the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets.

It’s been a busy day for Greek club Olympiakos Piraeus.

After signing Von Wafer earlier in the day, Olympiakos inked Lithuanian power forward Linas Kleiza to a 2-year, $12.2 million dollar contract.  The last few days, sources have said that Kleiza and the club was close to reaching an agreement.

(Discuss Linas Kleiza’s signing with Olympiakos)

“Olympiacos showed interest in me. I would like to stay in NBA, but if I have to go back to Europe, why not in Greece?” Kleiza recently said.

Kleiza was a restricted-free agent with the NBA, but the Denver Nuggets did not have the cap room to keep 6-8, 245lb bull that backed-up Carmelo Anthony last season.

Bill Duffy,  Kleiza’s agent, said that though Kleiza has had interest from other NBA teams, his restricted free-agency status limited his options.  So without any serious offers from the Nuggets, they had to move on.

“There was never any substantive negotiation with Denver,” Duffy said. “Based on that, we turned our interest to a global market.”

Duffy also said that his client’s contract included an opt-out clause, which allows Kleiza to become a restricted free agent next summer if he chooses.  If that happens, Denver retains Kleiza’s NBA rights.

Rumors have been swirling all offseason that Olympiakos was working on stealing another NBA player.  Before the signing of Wafer and Kleiza today, the Greek club had  reportedly offered contracts to Allen Iverson and Nate Robinson, and was/is pursuing Ramon Sessions.

With Kleiza aboard, the Reds have taken three-legitimate NBA players, Kleiza, Von Wafer, and Josh Childress.  Childress made headlines last year, and started a trend, as the first NBA player to choose the Euroleague over the NBA.

The 24-year old Kleiza averaged 9.9 points and four rebounds while shooting 44.7% last season for the Denver Nuggets.  Kleiza will be participating in the 2009 Eurobasket tournament to be held in September.

Olympiakos, the Greek club that continues to go after NBA free agents, is now going after Allen Iverson; offering the 6-0 guard a $10 million contract over two years (discuss).

The $10 million dollar offer is close to the numbers that Iverson is seeking in free agency, but is Iverson willing to head overseas, play in a completely different basketball culture with great expectations?

The Athens-based Olympiakos Piraeus is the team that  made waves by signing away Josh Childress from the Atlanta Hawks last season.

This offseason, the European club offered Nate Robinson a contract similar to the one they are offering Iverson.  Olympiakos has also reportedly been interested in Denver forward Linas Kleiza, Knick’s forward David Lee, and Buck’s guard Ramon Sessions.

In addition to Olympiakos, the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Memphis Grizzlies are also courting the 34-year old former NBA MVP.  Iverson is a 10-time NBA All-Star with a career scoring average 27.1 points.

With Hedo Türkoğlu ready to sign on the dotted line with the Toronto Raptors tomorrow, there aren’t too many international NBA free agents left to be had.

Interbasket scanned the list of remaining foreign-born free agents and came up with our top ten international free agents, both restricted and unrestricted, still swimming about in free agent waters.

1. Linas Kleiza, Lithuania (r) – With Denver trying to re-sign the Birdman, Chris Andersen, the Nuggets may not have enough money in the tank to keep the restricted Kleiza from walking away without going into the luxury tax.  Kleiza’s ability to run the floor, attack the basket, and finish with momentum and strength reminds you of a Baltic Karl Malone.  On top of that, Kleiza is a reliable three-point shooter and can take other power forwards off the dribble in the half-court.  In the right situation (see: more minutes), Kleiza can have (another) breakout year.

2. Anderson Varejão, Brazil (un) – Varejao opted out of his contract last week and is testing free agent waters.  Varejao is obviously looking for more than the $6 million that the Cavs were going to pay him this coming season. Cleveland signed the 35-year old Shaquille O’Neal and still has Zydrunas Ilguaskas in tow, so will they go after Varejao?  Do the Cavs want to deal with another Varejao holdout as they did in 2007 when the Brazilian backup missed an entire month of games.

3. Marcin Gortat, Poland (r) – Gortat is a restricted free agent, despite being courted by the Houston Rockets, and reportedly offered a huge offer sheet by the Dallas Mavericks, the Magic can have the option to match the offer and keep the 7-0, 240lb Polish center.   With Turkoğlu likely out of the picture and if the Magic aren’t aiming for another free agent this year (or the next), Orlando has the money to match and keep Gortat.  Whether Gortat is worth the reportedly $5.6 million/year that Dallas is willing to give him is the real question.

4. Wálter Herrmann, Argentina (un) – Anyone need a three-point specialist with a long, silky, blond ponytail only seen on covers of romance novels?   The Detroit Pistons are reportedly letting the Argentine shooter walk without an offer. If Herrmann doesn’t get a NBA contract, he’ll be welcomed back, with open arms, in Europe where the 6-9 forward started his career.

5. Zaza Pachulia, Georgia (un) – The Hawks are close to signing David Andersen, a big man from down under and Euroleague star, as insurance in case Pachulia goes elsewhere. It will be a huge shock if the Hawks look anything like the team of this past season. With Mike Bibby, Flip Murray, Marvin Williams also free agents this summer and with Andersen possibly coming onboard, Zaza may not get the attention from the Atlanta Hawks he expects.

6. Pops Mensah-Bonsu, England (un) – The Toronto Raptors were happy with their late-season pickup, and extended Mensah-Bonsu a qualifying offer in late June. The high-energy journeyman averaged 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and 13.8 minutes in 19 games with the Raps.   As a restricted free agent, Pops can sign an offer sheet with another team, but Toronto now owns the right to match the offer.

7. Rasho Nesterović, Slovenia (un) – The once baby-faced center has moved into the category of “great veteran and locker room guy.” At 33 years old, Rasho’s basketball peak are several years behind him, but the 7-0 center has at least a couple years left in him as a solid backup for a team looking for a veteran with playoff experience, and uh…  a locker room guy.  Nesterović’s career averages are around 7 points on 50% FG shooting, 5 rebounds and one blocked shot a game.

8. Jamaal Magloire, Canada (un) – The long-armed Magloire played spot minutes as backup center for the Miami Heat last season and did a serviceable job. The 7-0 former all-star center from Canada has said that he would like to return to the Miami Heat, so much so that he would re-sign at a discounted price.  Whether or not that will happen for the 31-year old Magloire will play out over the summer. The Heat selected 6-9 Robert Dozier, who is may play a little center, but is definitely under-sized.

9. Sean Marks, New Zealand (un) – With Tyson Chandler injured, the 6-10 Kiwi played in more games in 2008-09 than in any other season of his 9-year career. Marks’ one-year contract with the Hornets, worth 1.1 million last season has expired and no word on whether the Hornets are looking to bring back the 33-year old (34 when the season starts). The 2009 NBA Draft yielded backcourt players, Darren Collison and Marcus Thorton, so unless the Hornets make a move to obtain another big man, Marks may be in New Orleans at least another year.

10. Johan Petro, France (un) – The 7-0 French center has played for two teams in three NBA season since being drafted by the Seattle Sonics in the first round of 2005.  It looks like the 23-year old will be looking to move onto his third team as the Nuggets aren’t expected to make a qualifying offer.  Without an offer, Petro becomes an unrestricted free agent.  My guess? Petro will be headed to Europe.

There are also international free agents that have left the NBA, but are free-agents in the eyes of the NBA nonetheless.  That list includes Carlos Delfino, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Ersan Ilyasova.

Many teams have already agreed in principle with some free agents (Turkoglu with Toronto, Gortat with Dallas), but cannot be announced or become official until tomorrow, Wednesday, July 8th, 2009.

* (r) = restricted (un) = unrestricted

Interbasket was lucky enough to score a short interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

The 7-2 center’s basketball career spanned 30 years where he left a mark at every level.  Kareem scored nearly 40,000 points in his NBA career (38,387 to be exact) and took several NBA records with him when he retired in 1989.

We had the opportunity to ask Kareem a few questions which he was more than happy to oblige.  Being an international basketball website, we felt it only made sense to ask the legend’s thoughts about the international game and its influences, negative and positive on the NBA.

Interbasket: Kareem, how do you feel about international players in the NBA and the globalization of basketball in general
Kareem Abdul Jabber: I think that the globalization of the game in the world has made it very popular worldwide. I never would have thought that NBA basketball would have been able to compete with soccer for the affection of the world’s youthful sports fans. The spread of basketball’s popularity has made it possible for today’s players to get paid enormous salaries that were unimaginable in my day.

Ibn: What do you think about how international players are blamed for bringing the flop to the game?
KAJ: It doesn’t bother me that we have to put up with the flopping of the European players because the internationalization has made it such a lucrative profession at this point and its been good for the game. The people in various countries in the world that have placed players in the league have learned to love basketball.

Ibn: Who are your top ten international players and why?
KAJ: These are (ten) international players I respect:

• Pau Gasol (Spain) “the first big man from Europe that played on the front line in a way that impressed me and many other Americans.”
• Detlef Schrempf (Germany) “the first really good (international player) to come along.”
• Tony Parker (France) “Tony plays the game as if he was 100% American, not half.”
• Manu Ginobili (Argentina) “one of the reasons why San Antonio has won world championships.”
• Steve Nash (Canada & South Africa) “Nash has shown total mastery of the game.”
• Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) “he has brought alot of talent to his position.”
• Linas Kleiza (Lithuania)  “a great 6th man off the bench”
• Marcin Gortat (Poland)  “another fine front line bench player that gives the Magic great minutes.”
• Luis Scola (Argentina)  “a great role player for the Houston Rockets.”
• Rudy Fernandez (Spain) “a great outside shooter.”

I think we all took a look at that list and are thinking the same thing.  Where’s Yao Ming? I mean they both are centers, and Yao is perhaps the most-skilled center since Kareem… so what gives?

Update: Kareem answers (via his Twitter) why Yao wasn’t included in the list above – “Because #Yao has been injured so much I didn’t want to deny another player a spot. But certainly Yao is one of the top centers in the NBA”

Sure he missed Drazen, Sabonis, and Kukoc, but Jabbar never shared the court with those two (as he did with Detlef).  And note that Kareem’s top-10 is mostly European/South Americans – I doubt he considers Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan as international players.

Feel free to discuss/comment on Kareem’s picks in our forum.

We’d like to thank Kareem for being so gracious as to answer our questions. We’d love to do it again, and maybe ask him why he left Yao Ming off his list.

Links and Resources:  Ibn Exclusive: Kareem names his 10 favorite int’l NBA players (Interbasket Forum), Ask Kareem Abdul Jabbar TWO questions (Interbasket),  Ask Kareem any TWO questions (Interbasket Forum), Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s Official Website (Kareem Abdul Jabbar.com)

Denver, Colorado – Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers falls down after being fouled by Linas Kleiza of the Denver Nuggets. As gravity brings Bryant down, the ball flies into the air making for Interbasket’s pic of the day.

The Lakers blew out the Denver NUggets 119-92 in Game Six of the Western Conference Finals during the 2009 NBA Playoffs at Pepsi Center on May 29, 2009. Kobe Bryant finished with a game high 35 points and 10 assists, as well as 6 rebounds which was Kobe’s best all-around and efficient game of the 2009 NBA Playoffs. Linas Kleiza came off the Denver bench to add 6 points and 3 rebounds.

In the six game series, Kobe Bryant averaged 34 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game vs. Denver.  Linas Kleiza averaged 7.6 points and 4 rebounds in the six games.

With athleticism, energy, and determination, the Denver Nuggets evened up their series up with a 120-101 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night.

Along with J.R. Smith’s 24 points off the bench, the Nuggets’ front court athleticism were the story of the game as Denver’s big men completely overwhelmed the Laker frontcourt.

With 6-11 Nene (Brazil) and 6-8 Linas Kleiza (Lithuania) bruising down low, Chris “Birdman” Andersen, Kenyon Martin, and Carmelo Anthony attacked the offensive boards with ferocity and athleticism that left the Lakers’ big men, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, flat-footed and dazed.

The Nuggets grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, and out rebounded the Lakers 58-40. Several times throughout the game, Andersen, Nene, and Martin were seen crashing around the basket, grabbing rebounds, causing chaos, and giving the Nuggets second and third chances.

“It was bad,” Kobe Bryant said. “They kept getting second-chance opportunities and making us pay for them. They did a great job on the boards.”

Nene finally snapped out of his funk with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and a game-high 6 assists; recording his first double-double since the opening game of the playoffs. He also recorded a game-high seven offensive rebounds, and that’s not counting the few times that he tapped the ball out.

Kenyon Martin also had 15 rebounds, while Chris Andersen had 14 rebounds off the bench.

Nene’s 13 rebounds is his second-highest total in the 2009 NBA playoffs.  He recorded 14 rebounds in Denver’s first playoff game vs. the New Orleans Hornets.

With the series tied at two apiece, game five of the Western Conference Finals is Wednesday, May 27th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

• Rudy Fernandez scores 23 points for the Blazers, defeating the Suns 129-109, and dimming Phoenix’s playoff hopes.  The game marked Rudy’s first 20 point game since November 12th, 2008 – Fernandez’s quick start of the season.

• Behind Dirk Nowitzki‘s 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, the Mavericks hammer the Warriors 128-106.  Puerto Rican waterbug and 5-10 guard Juan Jose Barea also blistered Golden State for 20 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals last night.

• Jose Calderon (19 points, 11 assists) and Andrea Bargnani lead the Toronto Raptors over Milwukee Bucks 115-106.  Andrea Bargnani scored 23 points and averages 19 points, 6 rebounds, and shooting 47% this year when he starts at the center position.

• Steve Nash scored 12 points and passed out 14 assists in the Phoenix’s 118-114 win over Utah. Slovenian Goran Dragić had 11 points, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds as Phoenix took out Utah. The former Olimpija Ljubljana point guard (who, by the way, was signed by TAU Ceramica before joining the Suns) is averaging 8 points and 3 assists in the past 6 games, all victories for Phoenix. In the 5 games prior to this win-streak,  Dragić did not score a single point. Coincidence?

• Argentina’s Gold Medal winner Manu Ginóbili played for the first time since February 11 after injuring his ankle. He scored 2 points, but missed 6 shots in 11 minutes.  Said Manu: “I felt a little rusty and slow tonight.”   I’ll say.  Fortunately for Manu and the Spurs, Tony Parker had a fantastic game against the Atlanta Hawks, scoring 42 points and 10 assists while shooting 72%. The former Paris Racing Basket star still isn’t get the “props” he deserves.   After his 42 point explosion last night, Tony Parker has averaged 27.5 points and 8.6 assists in the Spur’s last ten games…

• Australian Nathan Jawai, also of the Toronto Raptors, got 34 seconds of court time for Toronto. It was Jawai’s 6th NBA appearance for the Torres Straight Islander who was diagnosed with a cardiac condition earlier in the season, forcing him to sit for a number of months.  Jawai was recalled from his NBDL team to play for Toronto on March 23.

• The Cavs’ Anderson Varejao scored 16 points and 11 rebounds in a win over the New Jersey Nets. He might add a Most Improved Player of the Year trophy to his bookshelf next to his 2003 Pan-Am Games Gold Medal. If he does win the MIP trophy, expect Greece to close their embassy in Brasilia.

• Only 6 days ago, we posted a comment that George Karl wants Linas Kleiza to get more time on the court. He played 6 minutes last night. Is the egg on George Karl’s face or ours?

In the Euroleague’s Top 8, game one results and summaries:

• CSKA Moscow 56-47 Partizan: Erazem Lorbek is the only player to score in double-figures, scoring 16 points for CSKA.  Viktor Khryapa adds 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists as CSKA beats Partizan.  Uros Tripkovic scores 12 points for Partizan, who shot only 40% as a team.  (discuss the game)

• Panathinaikos 90-85 Montepaschi Siena: Nikola Pekovic comes off the bench to score a team-high 21 points off the bench for Panathinaikos, leading 5 players in double figures.  Vassilis Spanoulis and Mike Batiste each add 14 points, Drew Nicholas 13 points, and Antonis Fotsis 11 points for Panathinaikos.  Romain Sato (pictured right), from the Central African Republic, led Montepaschi Siena with game-highs of  29 points and 9 rebounds.  American point guard Terrell McIntyre added 27 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals for Siena. (discuss the game)

• Olympiakos 88-79 Real Madrid: Lynn Greer and Nikola Vujcic each score 19 points and Theo Papaloukas’ passes for a Euroleague playoff record 13 assists for Olympiakos.  Louis Bullock led Madrid with 15 points, followed by Raul Lopez’s 11 points. (discuss the game)

• Tau Ceramica 84-75 F.C. Barcelona:  Behind Argentine point guard Pablo Prigioni’s all-around game (17 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds), Tau Ceramica defeats F.C. Barcelona on their homecourt.  Igor Rakocevic added 15 points for Tau Ceramica.   Juan Carlos Navarro scored 17 points and Ersan Ilyasova 14 points for F.C. Barcelona. (discuss the game)

• NBA News: Tony Parker scores game-high 30 points and has game-high 10 assists as the San Antonio Spurs squeak by the Golden State Warriors 106-105 last night.  Parker has averaged 25.9 points in the last 9 games, scoring 21+ points in each.  However, the Spurs have won only 5 of those 9 games.   Linas Kleiza was fined $25,000 by the NBA for verbally abusing an official after the Nuggets defeated the Wizards 116-105.

Links and Resources: Euroleague playoff quarter-finals – game 1 Discussion Thread (Interbasket)