New Cavs head coach David Blatt has amassed his fair share of European hardware. The NBA has plenty of Euroleague athletes among its teams’ rosters. Now, it has its first head coach. Last year, as the Boston Celtics began searching for a replacement for Doc Rivers, who was essentially traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, Blatt was mentioned by some reputable basketball writers—including our very own Chris Sheridan—as a possible candidate. However, the job went to Butler coach Brad
Remember when Andrei Kirilenko was young, precocious and was a nightly threat to produce one of those statistical anomalies known as a 5X5 — reaching at least five in five statistical categories? The old AK-47 was back in the Olympic quarterfinals on Wednesday, producing a beastly line of 19 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks as Russia defeated a Lithuania team that would not quit, 83-74. Timofey Mozgov also had a very strong game with 17 points, and
Andrei Kirilenko is going to be visible to Americans this summer — even if it’s looking more and more likely he is headed back to Russia for another season with CSKA Moscow. (He has until July 12 to opt out of his contract), Kirilenko and the Russian national team qualified for the London Olympics on Saturday night in Caracas, Venezuela, by defeating Nigeria 85-77 behind 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals by Kirilenko. The Russians went undefeated in
The Greeks are out, Bo McCalebb is out, J.J. Barea and Carlos Arroyo are out, and there won’t be any Angolans to elbow around at the 2012 Olympic men’s basketball tournament. On a day of wild swings and finishes at the quarterfinals of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, the field of Olympic contenders was reduced to four — Russia, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria and Lithuania. Two spots will be determined in today’s semifinals, with both of those teams going into
By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — The most memorable dunk in French basketball history will remain a dunk that they are not proud of. But at least now, there is a dunk — courtesy of Nicolas Batum — that the French can replay over and over again without feeling ashamed. France qualified for the 2012 Olympics by defeating Russia 79-71 Friday night in the semifinals of EuroBasket, staying strong down the stretch, thanks mostly to Batum, to end an 11-year limbo that began
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — Sergei Monia banked in a 3-point shot off an inbounds pass with 2.5 seconds remaining to give Russia a 63-61 victory over Macedonia on Monday night in the final game of Round 2 at Eurobasket. After two aborted inbounds plays — the Macedonians intentionally fouled on the first one with 2.8 seconds left, and Russia’s Alexei Shved then banged the ball off the player defending the inbounds pass and back out of bounds to avoid a 5-seconds call, Shved found Monia on the right