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)…

“By Christmas we will have a new coach” said the President of the Slovenian Basketball Federation.

And so it is: the Slovenian Basketball Federation announced the agreement with Memi Bećirović who is currently with Belgian club Base Oostende.

(Talk Slovenian Basketball in our forum)

After Jure Zdovc stepped down, the Slovenian federation decided to appoint Bečirović, who will be officially presented tomorrowBecirovic agreed on a 1+1+1 deal and will most likely leave Oostende at the end of the season.

Initial reactions by Slovenian press and fans were not the most enthusiastic ones as many expected that the Federation would try aproaching Tomo Mahoric who was Jure Zdovc’ assistant coach in the recent Eurobasket, where Slovenia captured fourth place, their highest ever.  Read the full article at 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.

Montepaschi Siena’s Romain Sato was named Euroleague MVP for week 3 of the regular season.

The 28-year old small forward from the Central African Republic help keep his team undefeated at 3-0 in Group A with his performance.

(Check out our Euroleague Forum)

Despite Siena quickly falling behind by 21 points against Asvel Basket on the road, Montepaschi would stage a comeback over the next three quarters to win 65-82, a 38-point turnaround.

And EL veteran Sato was primary in Montepaschi’s offensive onslaught; scoring a career-high 33 points on 8 of 12 two-pointers, 4 of 6 threes, and 5 of 6 free throws. Sato also added 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 5 fouls drawn for a performance index rating of 37.

After his outburst, Sato is averaging 20 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2 steals per game.

Matt Walsh, formerly of the University of Florida and playing for Union Olimpija, had another huge game in a loss for the Slovenian club. Walsh scored 27 points and pulled 6 rebounds accumulating the week’s second-highest index rating of 29.

Lithuanian Paulius Jankūnas of Khimki Moscow amassed a 27 index rating after tallying 23 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in his Russian team’s second win of the season.

Bad news for CSKA Moscow as they found out today that they lost team captain and Euroleague superstar forward Matjaž Smodiš to a back injury that will keep the 6-9 Slovenian out of  much of the Euroleague Regular Season.

The 29-year old may require surgery that may keep him out four months, but may return in time for the tournament. Smodiš also missed five games last season.

Smodiš, who is the first non-Russian player to be named captain of CSKA, has played huge roles in seven Euroleague finals, winning three Euroleague championships along the way.

In 2001 he teamed with Manu Ginobili and Marko Jaric with Kinder Bologna to win his first championship, and took home the titles in 2006 and 2008 with CSKA Moscow.

Follow the Euroleague and Club Competition in our forums.

Spain‘s Pau Gasol was chosen as Eurobasket’s Most Valuable Player and also named to the All-Tournament team.

After coming into the tournament as the favorites, Spain was upset by Serbia and Gasol played terribly; scoring a tournament-low 9 points and shooting 1-8 from the free throw line.

(Discuss: Who’s on your Eurobasket All-Star Team?)

Gasol and Spain would eventually bounce back. Throughout the tournament, Gasol led Spain in points, rebounds, blocked shots, including 18 points 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in the 85-63 finale win over Serbia.

Gasol also shot a team-high 66.3% from two-point range in the tournament.

Gasol’s 18.6 points per game made him the tournament’s leading scorer while also grabbing a second-best 8.3 rebounds, and leading all players in blocked shots (2.2).

The Spanish center highlighted the All-Tourament Team, which featured his teammate and Portland Traiblazers shooting-guard Rudy Fernández, who averaged 13.6 points and led all the field with 2.1 steals per game.

Serbian guard Miloš Teodosić, Slovenian center Erazem Lorbek and Greek guard Vasileios Spanoulis rounded out the remaining positions on the 2009 Eurobasket All-Tournament Team..

Looking to Watch the Serbia vs. Spain finals online?
You can stream the Spain-Serbia Eurobasket finals online at any of the following websites:

• FromSport (click)
• JustinTV (click)
• TVP Poland (click)
• ATDHE (click)
• RojaDirecta (click)

Check out our where to watch the 2009 Eurobasket Online thread for the latest (working) links.

You can also follow the games along in our individual game threads: Serbia vs. Spain and Greece vs. Slovenia. Or check out our Eurobasket 2009 forum.

Spain defeated Greece 82-64 decisively to advance to the Eurobasket championships.

The win gives Spain another shot at the country’s first European championship after placing second in six other Eurobaskets.

The Spaniards shut down Greece’s leading scorer Vasileios Spanoulis, controlled the boards, and held Greece at arms length since midway through the second quarter until the end of the game.

Los Angeles Laker Pau Gasol led Spain with 18 points and 6 rebounds, while Portland Trail Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez added in with 14 points.

Ioannis Bourousis collected 11 points and 7 rebounds for Greece and Greek rookie Nick Calathes added 10 points for the losers.

Spain will now play Serbia who defeated Slovenia in the other semifinal on Sunday, 96-92 in overtime. Serbia was led by Miloš Teodosić’s 32 points, which included the game-tying three that sent the game into overtime knotted at 79.

Nenad Krstic and Kosta Perovic contributed 18 points apiece for Serbia. The Lorbek brother combined to score 57 points for Slovenia. Erazem Lorbek scored 25 points and gathered 10 rebounds before fouling out early in overtime, while his brother Domen scored 22.

Serbia has already defeated Spain in Eurobasket, upsetting the World Champions on the first day of the tournament.

The finals will be played Sunday, September 20th, in Katowice, Poland and is set to begin at 21:15 local time.

Here’s a slow motion replay of Slovenia‘s Erazem Lorbek grabbing the offensive rebound and hitting a buzzer beating… um… fadeaway to tie the game at 78 apiece. As you can see for yourself, the shot is surrounded by controversy.

With one second remaning and the Slovenia down 78-76 in the fourth quarter, Goran Dragic purposely misses his second free-throw. Lorbek would fumble the rebound and toss in the game-tying basket.  Should it have even counted?

Let us know what you think in our Spain-Slovenia dicsussion thread.

Spain would go on to win the game 90-84 in overtime.  Both teams have advanced to the next round of Eurobasket with 2-1 records.

Down three points with one second remaining, 78-75 Slovenia‘s Goran Dragić was fouled by Spain’s Ricky Rubio.

Dragic made the all important first free throw, bringing Slovenia within two points.

With the easy part over, now came the difficult part – Dragic had to miss the next free throw to give his teammates a chance at the offensive rebound and somehow put it in the basket.

Dragic intentionally missed the free-throw, the offensive rebound came to Slovenian center Erazem Lorbek who put up a short jumper to tie the score at 78-78 with no time remaining in the fourth.

In overtime, Spain would hold on to win the game 90-84.

Cool and calm, Juan Carlos Navarro led Spain in scoring with 21 points, and Rudy Fernández had 19 points. Felipe Reyes had 17 points for Spain and Pau Gasol collected 13 points and 9 rebounds.

With the win, Spain is 2-1 and will advance to the qualifying round.

Goran Dragic top-scored for Slovenia with 19 points, followed by Jaka Lakovič’s 15, Boštjan Nachbar‘s 14, and Primož Brezec’s 12 points.

Erazem Lorbek had 8 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out. Slovenia is also 2-1 and have already advanced to the next round.

Francisco García suffered a minor finger injury in the Dominican Republic‘s loss to Puerto Rico on Wednesday.

The 6-7 shooting guard sat out the Dominican Republic’s next game, a 86-73 win over Mexico.

“Francisco has a cut in one of his fingers. He basically has a nail out of place,” said head coach Julio Toro said. “I was told (Thursday) that he wouldn’t be available and I haven’t been told if he will be available (Friday).”

Now the Sacramento Kings, Garcia’s NBA club, has reportedly forbidden Francisco to continue playing in the FIBA Americas tournament in fear that further participation could aggravate the injury.

A statement from the Sacramento Kings: Kings swingman Francisco Garcia fractured his right ring finger while playing for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship. He will not play in the remainder of the tournament and will return to Sacramento late next week, at which time the injury will be further evaluated.

NBA teams cannot forbid their players to play in international tournaments, as long as the the international teams pay the required insurance. However, if the player has an injury or is recovering, the NBA team has the right to end their participation.

Thus far, this clause has been invoked a couple times already on NBA players in the FIBA American Championship – once for Jose Juan Barea of Puerto Rico and Eduardo Najera of Mexico.

With a crucial game against Canada, Garcia’s loss is a blow to the Dominican Republic’s chance of moving on.  Garcia is the team’s second leading scorer at 15.8 points per game.

Now the team will have to rely the team’s other scorers, Charlie Villanueva (17.1), Luis Flores (14.4), and Al Horford (14).  Toro will replace the injured Garcia with veteran Franklin Western in the starting lineup.

Garcia was already expected to miss the Kings’ voluntary conditioning program, which begins on September 8th.

Udrih Out Too: This is the second Sacramento King to be pulled from a tournament because of injury. Slovenia‘s Beno Udrih injured himself and will miss three weeks, and all of the Eurobasket tournament.

After being dismissed by the Slovenian national team, Sasha Vujačić released an official statement telling his side of the story regarding the controversial move by head coach Jure Zdovc.

The 6-7 shooting guard asserts that because he sought treatment from a therapist after the team’s medical staff rubbed his injured knee with olive oil, was the reason for his being sent home from the Slovenian National Team.

“(Zdovc) told me that my leg was not OK and that I was behind the team. He also told me I didn’t have a “bond” with the team since I had spent time away from them for my treatment, and that he doesn’t want me on the team.”

“My heart has such pride for my country, and to be told by the National Team that I could not play for them really hurt me. Especially for something that was outside of my control. All I wanted was honest and fait (sic) treatment, but what I encountered was politics and hidden agendas.

At the end of the day my heart is sad and angry, but now it is time to get back to work in L.A. to help the Lakers win another NBA Championship Ring in 2010!!!!”

The full, long, drawn-out explanation can be found on Vujacic’s website. Discuss the Slovenian National Basketball Team in our forum.

Sasha Vujačić won’t be playing for Slovenia in this year’s Eurobasket after being sent home by head coach Jure Zdovc days before the tournament.

Slovenia also cut center Miha Zupan, but the real news is Vujacic’s surprising dismissal from a team that has been asking the 6-7 guard to come home and represent Slovenia for the last several years without success.

Zdovc placed much of the blame for Vujacic’s dismissal on an existing knee injury saying “Sasa Vujacic and everyone in the national team has done everything possible so that Sasa could return and play at the EuroBasket.”

“But his injury made his effort useless.” said Zdovc, trying to convince us.

Vujacic did miss some preparation games because of the knee injury.  However, if there was really a serious problem with his knee, his NBA club, the Los Angeles Lakers, would have prevented him to play for his national team, as the Dallas Mavericks (J.J. Barea) and New Jersey Nets (Eduardo Najera) have done recently.

So what’s the real story?  Quotes from Zdovc suggest that Sasha couldn’t/wouldn’t play within the national team’s style; and word is that Zdovc was bothered by Vujacic missing exhibition games with a minor injury.

“(Vujacic) hasn’t had time to adapt to our style of play.“ Zdovc said. “I want to thank the (Vujacic) for his effort and wish him a speedy recovery from his injury.”

Zdovc is under a lot of pressure to succeed, as Team Slovenia consists of many former and current NBA players and Euroleague stars, but the team hasn’t played well showing very little chemistry with one another.

A true low point was when Slovenia lost a preparation game 63-56 to a Great Britain squad without Robert Archibald and Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

Previous to the news today, Slovenia’s roster included NBA players Sasha Vujačić, Boštjan Nachbar, Beno Udrih, Primož Brezec, Goran Dragič, and Uros Slokar, as well as Euroleague stars Erazem Lorbek and Jaka Lakovič.

(discuss the Slovenian National Team for Eurobasket 2009)

Just images of some of the international players, and other players of interest, from the 2009 NBA Summer League.

[Show as slideshow]

Check out the pic of Blake Griffin’s jam and the Japanese National Team that participated in this year’s summer league. They played against the New Orleans Hornets in Las Vegas.

The team photo does not include Takuya Kawamura, the 6-foot-4 guard that was recently added to the Phoenix Suns’ roster for the Las Vegas summer league. Kawamura averaged 20.4 points for Link Tochigi Brex of the Japanese Basketball League (or B.J. League, seriously) last season. The 23-year old decided not to join the national team in hopes of making the NBA.