By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — Spain learned Monday who its opponent will be in the second round of Eurobasket, and it is a team that will try to dictate the pace of the game and keep it slow. That opponent is Slovenia, which advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Finland 67-60 to claim fourth place in Group F. “We know them, we respect them, we know they are full of excellent talented players and experienced players, and we would be stupid if we were
Eurobasket: Old guard and new kid lead Lithuania
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — This particular pick-and-roll play was both a thing of beauty and a small but memorable chapter in this country’s long basketball history, a moment that will stick in the country’s collective memory bank for ages to come. Sarunas Jasikevicius had the ball out near the circle and used the 7-foot frame of Jonas Valanciunas to create some space between himself and his defender. As the 19-year-old center rolled to the basket after setting the pick, the 35-year-old point guard lofted a perfect
Eurobasket: France tanks its final first-round game vs. Spain
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — The best defense played by France came from its coach, Vincent Collet, when he had to explain his decision to bench Tony Parker and Joakim Noah in a 96-69 loss to Spain on Sunday that dropped Les Blues into second-place in Group E. And Collet was indeed on the defensive after Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo opened his post-game remarks by saying Spain had too much respect for the game — and for the other teams still fighting to stay alive in EuroBasket — to
Eurobasket: Dancer of the Day
This is Vaiva, a dancer with Leaderdance, a performance group from her hometown of Klaipeda, Lithuania. She is 21, and her favorite player is Jonas Valanciunas.
Eurobasket: Nowitzki to play his biggest game since NBA Finals
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — With Serbia defeating Turkey this afternoon 68-67, Dirk Nowitzki still has a chance to get his national team into the quarterfinals when Germany plays Lithuania tonight. (The games can be watched live on FIBA.com). It’ll be Nowitzki’s most important game since the NBA Finals, but his team doesn’t just need to win … they need to win by 11 points or more. That is because of the complicated FIBA tie-breaking rules, which use point differential among games between
Deron Williams makes surprise debut for Besiktas
Deron Williams, perhaps inspired by the warm welcome he received upon his arrival in Turkey, made a snap decision to play for Besiktas rather than watch their first game. He had 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists in just 18 minutes of a 93-91 victory over Montepaschi Siena at the annual Bormio Tournament in Italy. Williams’ teammate on the New Jersey Nets, Sasha Vujacic, is also on the court already for Efes Anadolu and scored 30 and 18 points in his first two games. Read all about
Mozgov a monster as Russia defeats Greece
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — Once upon a time in mid-February of this year, Timofey Mozgov was the only thing holding up the blockbuster trade that sent Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks. Once the Knicks relented and agreed to give up the 7-footer, the deal went forward. But Mozgov went backward, spending most of the rest of the season on the end of Denver’s bench. “It was hard. What I take from last season was the waiting game, how to keep
New contributors: Bernucca, Zagoria, Weijia
By Chris Sheridan My staff of contributors has now doubled, with Chris Bernucca, Adam Zagoria and Guan Weijia joining a roster that already includes Hall of Famer Mark Heisler, Peter May and Nick Gibson. Bernucca is as intense and dedicated as they come, and will provide a smorgasbord of content. He can recite just about every line from Repo Man. Zagoria is as laid-back as they come, and will write a weekly column on young players with the goods to make it to the NBA someday. If you