BARCELONA — They say you should act like you’ve been there before. With a Euroleague-best 396 career 3-pointers, Cantu’s Gianluca Basile had been there plenty. Still, with the clock racing toward triple zeroes and the game tied at 64 in Bilbao, nobody thought Basile’s 35-foot heave would turn into number 397. Then it did, and some 8,000 Bilbao supporters sat in stunned silence. The scoreboard told them that Cantu had taken the lead 67-64, and that in one-tenth of a second their
Gibson Column: How the end of the NBA lockout affects Euroleague
BARCELONA — Bieber must have dumped Selena. Or the other way around. That, or the British are coming. There are tweets in ALL CAPS. There are tweets with exclamation points. There are tweets in ALL CAPS followed by exclamation points. There are tweets comprised only of exclamation points that are re-tweeted with a “!!!!” preface from the re-tweeter. But these aren’t the hormonal babblings of Beliebers, nor are they warnings of an impending attack from the red coats. These are men and
Gibson Column: Navarro Breaks Euroleague Scoring Title. Who’s Up Next?
BARCELONA — Chuck Eidson stared at a clear path to an empty basket as the crowd rose to their feet in Palau Blaugrana. Eidson knew this ovation wasn’t intended for him, so he glanced to his left and wisely shoveled the ball off to Juan Carlos Navarro, who caught it, took two steps and laid it up off the glass. When the ball fell through the nylon, the Euroleague had a new all-time leading scorer. La Bomba had needed 14 points to
Gibson Column: Euroleague 101 for starving hoops fans
MADRID — With NBA’s nuclear winter upon us, the Euroleague is ready to explode beneficially. That was my first thought. Then I realized that, aside from being incredibly cheesy, it was also incredibly untrue. In the absence of The Association, people will do many things. They will watch more football, dive a little deeper into college basketball, maybe finish that Tom Wolfe book that’s been peering at them from their bedside table for 16 months. They might start volunteering at their kids’
Gibson Column: Barcelona Dominates And Rony Seikaly Heats Up The Club
BARCELONA — Bo McCalebb stands to Andrei Kirilenko’s left with Macedonia’s flag draped around his neck. Several feet to Bo’s left, just past Tony Parker and right before Pau Gasol is Juan Carlos Navarro, still wearing his number seven España jersey and smiling weakly. Both Bo and La Bomba are holding onto their All EuroBasket trophies, the undeniable heroes of the summer. But only Navarro waits on a medal. A gold one, in fact. That’s how it works when you’re a
Gibson Column: DaJuan Summers Left To Fry Under Tuscan Sun
BARCELONA — Somewhere in Tuscany, DaJuan Summers is negotiating a buyout with Montepaschi Siena after playing only four games. Between the offers, counter offers and number crunching, I hope both sides can put down their pens long enough to look at each other and ask: What were we thinking? On the one hand you’ve got Siena, fresh off a Euroleague Final Four appearance as well an Italian Championship, their sixth in as many years. On the other, DaJuan Summers, a 23-year-old whose
Gibson Column: Batum, Krstic Shine, But This Is Navarro’s Euroleague
BARCELONA — Eleven men dressed in red and blue knelt to the floor and then rocked onto their backsides, some grabbing a heel, others a toe as they stretched. But Barcelona’s Juan Carlos Navarro remained standing, his heels and toes right behind the 3-point stripe. Unlike the others, he wore long black pants and a matching long-sleeved shooting shirt, and all it took was a raised eyebrow for the ball boy to get the hint; he fired one out as Juan
Gibson Column: Ranking NBAers in Euroleague Week 1
By Nick Gibson of EuroleagueAdventures.com BARCELONA — So you’ve played in the NBA before. That’s terrific. The thing is, nobody in Europe really cares. The fans might enjoy the novelty, but your teammates aren’t impressed, your coaches won’t tie you to a longer leash, and management has a loophole at the ready whenever they feel like voiding your deal, which is most likely the heftiest on the books. Being an NBA talent means just that: you’re talented. However, talent alone is not nearly enough to compete