Are you looking to watch Greece take on China, or Lithuania vs. New Zealand in the first day of World Championships?

Follow all the group play matches in Interbasket’s World Championships of Basketball forum where we’ve created individual game threads so you find out where to watch the game, comment on the game, and follow along with Greek, Chinese, and basketball fans from around the world.  Check out the individual game threads below:

From the crew @ Interbasket (and Pau Gasol), we wish you a very Merry Christmas, a super Hannukkah; a happy holidays.  Whatever you you do, however you are celebrating, whoever you are with, wherever you are in the world – we sincerely hope you have a safe and happy holiday season.

Pau Gasol walks up the court in the Laker’s game vs. the New Jersey Nets.

Merry Christmas or Merry Christmas translated in the many different languages around the world:  Veselé vánoce (Czech), Vrolijk kerstfeest (Dutch), Joyeux Noël (French), Frohe Weihnachten (German), Kala Christouyenna (Greek), Buon Natale (Italian), Linksmų Kalėdų (Lithuanian), Feliz Natal (Portuguese), С Рождеством (Russian),  Vesel Božič (Slovenian), Feliz Navidad (Spanish), God jul (Swedish), Maligayang Pasko (Tagalog – Philippines), สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส (Thai), Mutlu Noeller (Turkish)…

This week’s quick international roundup of the player performances during the last few days. This post includes discussion about Yi Jianlian‘s return to the New Jersey Nets, Pau Gasol‘s extension, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah’s contributions to the Chicago Bulls, J.J. Barea’s career year, and Žalgiris Kaunas fills their head coach position.

• Yi Jianlian returned to the New Jersey Nets last night. The 7-0 Chinese forward came off the bench and scored 22 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, in 30 minutes.  Even with Yi, the Nets weren’t able to pull out their third win this season, ultimately losing their 27th game to Minnesota 103-99.

• Is the Jordanian basketball league going to be cancelled? The Premier league may be cancelled so as Jordan can properly prepare their National Team for the 2010 World Championships (discuss).

• Pau Gasol agreed to a three-year extension with the Los Angeles Lakers. No doubt the league-leading Lakers understand the importance of the 7-0, 29-year old Spanish superstar. The Lakers started out 8-3 without Gasol, and are 15-1 since Gasol returned to the lineup. For the season, he is averaging 17 points and a career-high 12.6 rebounds per game.

• Joakim Noah grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds against the New York Knicks, unfortuanately the Bulls lost their second straight 88-81.

• In the last five games Luol Deng has averaged 23 points on 51% shooting, almost 9 rebounds, and 3 assists, all are above his career averages. Deng scored 21 or more points in each contest. The Bulls are 2-3 in the last five.

• Iranian Superlague club Pasargad Shiraz hired Hossein Owji as their new coach (via Basket-Spot).

• José Juan Barea is having a career year for the Dallas Mavericks. The 6-0 guard from Puerto Rico is averaging 9.9 points, 4.0 assists, 2.3 rebounds, and shooting 44.6% from three. Barea has started the last 8 games and the Mavs have won six of those games.

• Žalgiris Kaunas filled the open head coach position left by Gintaras Krapikas with former Lithuanian national team coach Ramūnas Butautas. The 45-year old Lithuanian is the son of Stepas Butautas, former Soviet player that won silver in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

Žalgiris Kaunas management have accepted the resignation letter presented by coach Gintaras Krapikas this afternoon.

(Talk Lithuanian Basketball in our forum)

The stepping down came after the bad campaign in the Euroleague and the heavy loss away yesterday to Barcelona 89 to 55.

Krapikas, who had signed a contract extension in the summer, thinks the club still has chances to qualify for the Top 16 stage, and so decided to quit the job to help the team.

Žalgiris has won just one game, their first against Villeurbanne, out of eight played so far in the competition.

Until a new head coach is hired, assistant Darius Maskoliūnas will guide the team.

Krapikas, who is a former player of Žalgiris, began his coaching career in Germany as an assistant and later transferred to the green club. Between 2006 and 2008 he was in Russia with UNICS Kazan and then returned to Žalgiris to assume the head coach post.

Go to Basket-Spot for the original article and translation in Portuguese.

(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

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.

After weeks of speculation, FIBA has chosen the four final countries, Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Russia, that will represent in the 2010 World Championships of Basketball.

(germany-lebanon-lithuania-and-russia-awarded-12172/#post”>Discuss FIBA’s four wild card selections in our forum)

The maximum three -from-one-region wild cards went to Europe, leaving Great Britain as the only European finalist without a ticket. With their resurgence onto the basketball scene as the hosts of the 2012 Summer Olympics being held in London, Great Britain was likely fifth place in the voting

The other three finalists that were in the running were two nations from Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria, and one from Asia – Korea.

The wild card process started with 14 nations, which was whittled down to eight before the FIBA board chose the four federations last night. Congratulations to Germany, Lebanon, Lithuania, and Russia.

We are onlyy one day away from FIBA announcing the final four countries that will fill the tournament field for the 2010 World Championships.

(Predict the four teams to WC2010)

The Wild Card process started with 14 teams hoping for one of the four remaining spots; now it’s been whittled down to just eight basketball federations and  their current FIBA world rankings: Cameroon (#43), Germany (7), Great Britain (73), Korea (27), Lebanon (24), Lithuania (6), Nigeria (22), and Russia (17).

From FIBA’s world rankings, the four wild cards should go to Lithuania (6), Germany (7), Russia (17) and Nigeria (22), but who knows what FIBA is thinking, but they consider three criteria when selecting wild cards; sporting, economics, and governing aspects for each country.

Wild-card hopefuls must also pay a controversial 500,000 € fee, prior to FIBA’s decision, with the fees going into the marketing and promotion of basketball through FIBA’s International Basketball Foundation.

A maximum of three teams from one region will be allowed, meaning that Europe can only have 3/4 teams that can be awarded the Wild Card, and it’s not unlikely that Europe will get three teams.

Stay tuned, there will be some very happy teams and some very unhappy teams come Saturday night.

The FIBA Wild Cards will determine four teams’ fates for the 2010 World Championships of basketball.

With a few days remaining before FIBA announces their selections, which countries do you think FIBA will select for the event in Turkey in 2010? Below are Interbasket’s top 11 contenders:

• Cameroon
• Dominican Republic
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Korea
• Lebanon
• Lithuania
• Nigeria
• Poland
• Russia
• Taiwan

Seems that Interbasket members mostly agree that Russia and Germany will be locks to receive a ticket to the huge basketball event.

Go to our forum and pick the four countries that you think FIBA will choose based on their criteria of sporting, economics, and governing factors with a maximum of three wild cards from any one zone (that means you, Europe!).

It’s already been hinted that the sporting factor will weigh more heavily, benefiting teams from Europe and the Americas.

After the Wild Cards have been determined, the draw for the World Championships will be held at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul on Tuesday, 15th December 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

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.

Sunday night’s game against the Mavericks was supposed to be a big night for Cleveland’s Žydrūnas Ilgauskas.

The big center from Lithuania, already the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder and shot blocker, was about to play his 724th game as a Cleveland Cavalier.

The Mavs game would be the game in which Ilgauskas would break the Cavs’ franchise record for games played, instead Ilgauskas would register his first DNP of the season courtesy of Head Coach Mike Brown.

(Discuss Cavs spoiling Ilgauskas’ history-making day)

Ilgauskas ties Danny Ferry’s record
The day before, Ilgauskas had played 15 minutes in a loss to Charlotte, tying the franchise record at 723 games, held by former teammate and current GM Danny Ferry.

“It doesn’t happen any more with free agency. Guys bounce around more. (The record) means a lot.” Ilgauskas said. “I was thinking about that the other day,” he said. “It means more to me than any of the other records I have.”

“It means more than the blocked shots or the rebounds.”

So coming into Sunday’s game, Ilgauskas was healthy and had played in every single game this season, each time no less than 13 minutes, so there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t get into the game.

And on the night that Ilgauskas was to break the record at the Quicken Loans Arean in Cleveland, Big Z didn’t remove his warmups at all; registering his first DNP-CD (Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision) of the season.

“I went small for matchup purposes,” Brown said after the Cavs defeated the Mavs 111-95. “We continued to stay small throughout the game. We had a nice flow to us.”

Ilgauskas hurt by DNP
Ilgauskas is obviously hurt by the move, and the 7-3 center turned down interview requests Saturday night and on Monday, which was the first time reporters remember Ilgauskas declining to talk.

From Cleveland.com: He was the first person to head to the locker room after Saturday’s game and the first person to leave the locker room, also two rarities. He reportedly was devastated by the decision, in part because he had a contingent of family and friends at the game to help him celebrate.

Questionable Move
I am sure Mike Brown has no ill-will towards Zydrunas and he was making the best moves to win the game, but the timing of the decision to keep Ilgauskas on the bench was questionable at best, and disrespectful at its worst.

The game was played at home, in Cleveland. Ilgauskas has spent his entire 12-year career with the Cavs. When Shaq was brought in this season, Big Z went to the bench without so much as a whisper.

Up until the start of the 2009-10 season when Shaq took the starting role, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas had played all of his 625 NBA games with the Cavs; he’s started 586 of those games, including 534 straight games pre-Shaq.

It’s one thing if Z had not played previously this season, but Ilgauskas has been part of the regular rotation. For Brown to not play him for the first time this season in the game in which he was to break the franchise record for games played? Odd timing to say the least.

Sure, he’ll get the record, but considering his team history and the aforementioned circumstances in play, Brown should have understood that and found time for Žydrūnas Ilgauskas.

Tijani Umar, the President of the NBBF (Nigeria Basketball Federation) recently returned from Zurich, Switzerland after a meeting with FIBA World officials to chat about the FIBA wild cards for the 2010 World Championships.

However, Umar’s meeting with FIBA officials did not make him very positive on Nigeria’s chances.

While speaking with Ungar, FIBA hinted that they would be selecting the wild cards based on a country’s potential to make some impact on the world stage.

This “impact” factor is listed in FIBA’s wild card criteria, but for FIBA officials to emphasize that, fuels further speculation that the “quality and sporting results of the national teams of the country” is more heavily weighed than any other aspect.

After Nigeria finished fifth in the 2009 Afrobasket tournament, it would be difficult to justify their selection.

FIBA World Championships Wild Cards
With twenty teams having already clinched a spot to Turkey, there are still four slots remaining. These four spots are the wild cards and will be determined by FIBA.

(Chat more about the FIBA wild cards)

In order to qualify for a wild card, a team must have participated in their respective qualifying competition. From there, FIBA will take into consideration the sporting, economic, and governance aspects of that country.

Nigeria is on the short list of roughly ten teams vying for one of the four final spots.

Some of the top contenders for the spot include Cameroon, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Russia.

There are going to be six very disappointed teams come December when FIBA announces which four countries will receive the wild cards at the FIBA Central Board meeting in Geneva.

Žydrūnas Ilgauskas has played all of his 625 NBA games with the Cleveland Cavs.

He has started 586 of those games, including the last 534 games he has played in.

However this season, the 7-3 center will likely be coming off the bench after Cleveland acquired Shaquille O’Neal in a trade with the Phoenix Suns.

“I’ll probably be coming off the bench.” Ilgauskas told the New York Daily News the day the trade was announced.

And he is right, but the center from Lithuania doesn’t have any reservations about coming off the bench to the newly-acquired Shaquille O’Neal, who will likely take the starting role.

To Big Z, it isn’t about ego or starting, but after eleven years of starting in Cleveland, Ilgauskas admits that it will take some time to adjust, “I’m going to have to find the right mind-set, how to prepare for games and everything else,” said Ilgauskas,  “It is something I have to learn on the fly because I’ve been starting for so long.”

His rationale is common for a veteran player without a championship,“I’m 34 years old and I want to win a championship.” Ilgauskas said. “Whatever helps me get that, I’m all for it.”

It’s helps that the player replacing him in the starting lineup is considered one of the best NBA players ever.

“Shaq is the best center I ever played against, so if anybody is going to replace me in the starting lineup,” said Ilgauskas, who has averaged 14.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in his career.. “I don’t mind it being (Shaq) at all.”

“At this point in my career, I really want to win.”

Notes:  Ilgauskas and his wife, Jennifer, recently adopted two young boys, orphan brothers, 4-year old Povilas and 5-year old Deividas from an orphanage in his hometown of Kaunas, Lithuania. Two years ago, Jennifer lost twins late in her pregnancy.

Who is 2009′s Mr. Eurobasket?

Grown men (and some women) talking about the looks/attractiveness of Nikos Zisis of Greece (pictured below), Rudy Fernández of Spain, Robertas Javtokas of Lithuania, Engin Atsür of  Turkey, and other “good-looking” male participants in the Eurobasket Championships without unease or fear about being labeled “gay?”

That’s what you can discuss in the Mr. Eurobasket 2009 thread on Interbasket’s forums…

C’mon dude, don’t be like that, it’s cool if you think Uroš Tripković is a good looking guy.

Just don’t mention it in Serbia. where there has been vehement opposition and threats of violence because of Belgrade’s plan on putting on the capital’s first Gay Pride Parade scheduled for this Sunday.

After a hugely-disappointing showing in the Eurobasket tournament, the head coach of basketball-crazed Lithuania, Ramūnas Butautas, stepped down after their fifth and final loss.

At 0-5, Lithuania finished last in Group F and was eliminated two days before the final day of matches.

Even with the excuse that leaders Šarūnas Jasikevičius. Ramūnas Šiškauskas and Rimantas Kaukenas weren’t on the roster, Lithuania played so terribly in the tournament, losing five out of six games by an average margin of 13.2 points a game, that the absence of the veterans was hardly an excuse.

They pulled out one win, defeating Bulgaria 84-69 to barely sneak into the qualification round.

“We won one game only. We played very bad.” said Butautas at a press conference after losing to Serbia 89-79, “I must leave this team now, and I wish all the best to them.”

Not much of a surprise, many of the members in our forum already knew that Butautas was on his way out.