Round the Globe

In the hoop world toaday it looks like Jason Kidd will stay in Dallas, Rasheed Wallace may go to Boston and Hedo Turkoglu will go to Toronto.

From FIBA here is the Day 4 report of the Under 19 World championships as reported on: www.fiba.com

AUCKLAND (FIBA U19 World Championship) - Day 4 of the FIBA U19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand belonged to Puerto Rico guard Mike Rosario.

The 191cm guard, who attends Rutgers University, scored a remarkable 54 points, including 17 final quarter points to carry his team back from the brink, after France had taken an 83-76 lead with 3:20 remaining in the game.

Rosario hit three key baskets down the stretch, including a two pointer to tie scores at 89-89 with 40 seconds to play. Andrew Albicy (28 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steal) was outstanding for France all night, but missed an open three point shot to win the game with three seconds to play.

Raymond Cintron grabbed the rebound and rushed down the court, finding Kevin Young under the basket, who was fouled with 0.6 seconds remaining. Young missed the first but made the second and, fittingly, Rosario stole the inbounds pass to secure an incredible win for his country.

Egyptian Amro Sherif Abdelhalim also had a day to remember, recording 26 points, 9 rebounds and 6 steals. Unfortunately for him, his team went down 94-73 to Lithuania after leading 17-8 after five minutes, and trailing just 40-42 at half time.

Gediminas Bertasius (24 points, 9/1 fg, 5 rebounds, 5 steals) was excellent for Lithuania, as were Donatas Motiejunas (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Gediminas Orelik (14 points).

The USA outlasted Greece, who impressed in the first half put could not maintain their intensity for four quarters, losing 85-69.

The chief destroyer for the USA was Howard Thompkins, who relished the physical battle in the paint to collect 22 points on 10/14 shooting. The USA out-rebounded Greece 38-26 and scored 34 points in the paint to Greece’s 18, thanks largely to Thompkins.

For Greece, only Nikolaos Pappas could break the Americans shackles in the second half, scoring 7 of his 11 points. Pappas grabbed 4 rebounds and handed out 4 assists, but received scant support down the stretch, with only Kostas Sloukas (10 points) joining him in double figures.

The host nation New Zealand finally claimed its first win after three heartbreaking losses, defeating Syria 93-75. Centre Rob Loe was outstanding with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks, and drew 8 fouls on Syria.

Richie Edwards collected 17 points and 7 rebounds for New Zealand, while Tarek Al Jabe scored 15 points and Orwa Al Shatti 14 for Syria.

In the other classification game, Angola won their first game of the tournament, coming from 12 down at quarter time to overrun Iran, 62-53. Forward Eduardo Ferreira led the way with 19 points, and Miguel Kiala continued his excellent form inside with 14 points, 20 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Captain Arsalan Kazemi with 19 points, 20 rebounds and 4 steals for Iran.

Argentina claimed an emotional win ion the ‘Latino derby’, with an 11-4 Argentinean run late in the third quarter and an unsportsmanlike foul by Spaniard Marcos Molina the keys to the result.

Molina fouled Matias Nocedal heavily on a fast break lay-up with 4:11 remaining in the game with Argentina leading 69-64. Nocedal made both free throws and nailed a three point shot on the ensuing possession to extend the lead to 10 and effectively end the contest.

Nocedal finshed with 22 points, Gonzalez with 17 points and Lisandro Rasio 13 points and 13 rebounds. For Spain, star point guard Daniel Perez finished with 19 points, 3 assists, 3 steals but 5 turnovers.

Guard Cory Joseph led Canada to a winning position against Croatia, but Croat Dino Butorac nailed three triples in a tense final quarter to seal an 83-77 win, and keep his team’s unbeaten record in tact.

Despite both being subdued by the Canadian defence in the second half, Mario Delas (26 points, 10/16 fg, 10 rebounds) and Toni Prostran (29 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) were clearly Croatia’s best players.

Joseph finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers, and received scoring support from Mangisto Arop (22 points, 5 rebounds).

Australia made light work of Kazakhstan, rotating their bench from the first quarter and running out easy 87-54 winners. Reserve guard Jason Cadee led the scoring with 17 points, along with star forward Brock Motum.

For Kazakhstan, the dependable Alexandr Tyutyunik performed well with 20 points, and he was joined in double figures by big men Omirzak Akhmet (11 points, 7 rebounds) and Alexandr Zhigulin (10 points, 7 rebounds).

Paulo Kennedy
FIBA

Update from NZ

The up to date info on Under 19 World Championships from www.fiba.com:

Day 3 Round Up - Second round awaits for 12 teams

AUCKLAND (FIBA U19 World Championship) - The first round of competition has been completed, and 12 teams - Argentina, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, France, Greece, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Puerto Rico, Spain and the USA - have advanced to the second round.

Angola, Iran, New Zealand and Syria will play off for positions 13-16 in classification games.

Kazakhstan surprised everyone in the host nation by shooting an impressive 53% from long range to defeat New Zealand, 90-83, and move into the second round.

Anton Arsenyev was unbelievable for Kazakhstan, nailing 9/13 field goals and 5/7 three pointers on his way to 27 points. Alexandr Tyutyunik continued his strong tournament with 20 points and 8 rebounds.

For New Zealand, Brook Ruscoe (20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) and Rob Loe (20 points) continued their outstanding tournaments.

Lithuania overran old rival Greece with a 27-10 final quarter to run out 85-70 winners and claim top spot in Group A. Donatas Motiejunas was the star with 28 points on 11/17 shooting, 15 rebounds and 7 assists.

For Greece, Kostas Sloukas and Evangelos Mantzaris both scored 14 points, and Kostas Papanikolaou scored 13 points.

Croatia came from 10 points behind at quarter time to run over the top of Argentina and claim top spot in Group D. Buoyed by a large contingent of supporters, captain Mario Delas was again superb for Croatia with 27 points and 8 rebounds, while Tomislav Lubcic was also excellent with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

For Argentina, there were few highlights after quarter time, with only Matias Nocedal (11 points), Lisandro Rasio (11) and Andres Landoni (10) reaching double figures.

Spain claimed second spot of their pool, Group C, fighting off repeated comebacks from Canada to record a 82-75 win.

Daniel Perez was outstanding for Spain, nailing 5 three-pointers on his way to 29 points. Shooting guard Jorge Santana finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and centre Toni Vicens recorded 14 points and 5 boards.

Canada were led by forwards Mangisto Arop (17 points), Marc Trasolini (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Tristan Thompson (12 points, 6 rebounds).

The USA kept their unbeaten record with a spectacular 112-55 victory over Egypt in front of a packed house at ASB Stadium. The stars of the day were the USA guards, with Ashton Gibbs (18 points, 6 assists) and Shelvin Mack (14 points, 4 assists) leading the way, while forwards John Shurna and Howard Thompkins scored 13 points.

Omar Tarek Oraby (15 points, 8 rebounds) Motaz Pellah Okasha (11 points) and Karim Eldahshan (10 points) were Egypt's best and showed promise for the future.

After a disappointing first 15 minutes Australia has kept their unbeaten record in tact with a comprehensive 96-54 victory over Syria. Syria closed to 26-40 with 5:14 remaining in the second quarter before Australia finally clicked into gear.

Reserve big men Matthew Hodgson (17 points) and Mitchell Young (14) led Australia, and Syria received excellent service from Mahmoud Osfira (20 points), and Tarek Al Jabe (18 points).

France survived an early scare to claim second place in Group B. Iran led 23-21 at quarter time, but the French turned the defensive screws in the second quarter, holding Iran to 9 points and scoring 20 of their own, and running away with a 86-68 victory.

Puerto Rico finished their strong group performance with a comprehensive 86-49 defeat of Angola. Mike Rosario finished with 28 points, while Carlos Lopez has his best game of the tournament with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Paulo Kennedy
FIBA

Rumours and Ramblings

On the NBA front, Ron Artest is rumoured to be heading to LA to be a Laker with Laker Trevor Ariza heading to Houston.

The FIBA under 19 World titles are in full swing, here is the very latest of results from New Zealand as it appears on the FIBA website at:

Thursday, 2 July 2009

Group A:
Puerto Rico defeated Lithuania 80-73
Greece defeated Angola 101-58

Group B:
USA defeated Iran 106-55
France defeated Egypt 102-56

Group C:
Spain defeated Syria 79-53
Australia defeated Canada 88-77

Group D:
Croatia defeated Kazakhstan 104-74
Argentina defeated New Zealand 66-64

So far today:

Group B:
USA 71-France 55
Egypt 95-Iran 91

Group C:
Canada 99- Syria 53

Group D:
Argentina 98-Kazakhstan 69

That is as up to date as it gets, back tomorrow with more.

It's All Going On!!!

Around the hoop world today there is plenty of activity. The NBA free agent market opened with the Detroit Pistons getting right to business by coming to agreements with forward Charlie Villanueva and guard Ben Gordon. the move reunites former University of Connecticut. The Pistons also released recently acquired Fabricio Oberto.

In a trede the LA Clippers traded underachieving Zach Randolph to the Memphis Grizzlies for Quentin Richardson.

Elsewhere, the FIBA Under 19 World championships are underway in Auckland New Zealand.

Also directly from the Basketball Australia website, here is a story on the Boomers recent tour of China:

Jawai shines but Boomers fall

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 8:46 AM

By Basketball Australia

Related Links

• - China hold off Boomers

Jawai versus China" style="border-width: 0px; height: 360px; width: 360px;">

Nathan Jawai versus China

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FROM CCTV

Despite a fourth quarter comeback that saw Australia’s men’s basketball team within striking distance of victory, China defeated the Boomers 74-61 in the second of two international friendly matches in China.

Trailing by sixteen points at three-quarter time the Boomers rode the broad shoulders and loud, large and angry presence of the 'Bamaga Behemoth' Nathan Jawai to get back into the match.

Jawai threw down three huge dunks under heavy pressure in the fourth quarter as the Boomers hammered away at the lead until it was reduced to just five points when less than two minutes remained.

But after an Oscar Forman pass was stolen, China nailed a dagger three-pointer and Australia’s desperation shots failed to fall as the experienced Chinese team iced the game from the foul line to win by thirteen points.

208cm Jawai had a monster game in his second match for Australia and connected on 11-of-12 shots to finish with 28 points and 11 rebounds while poor perimeter shooting restricted the remainder of the side to single digits. China’s first NBA player Wang Zhizhi top scored for the host nation with 13 points.

“I’m extremely proud of these guys for clawing out of the significant hole we dug ourselves in the first quarter and the emergence of Nathan Jawai was a huge positive,” Boomers Head Coach Brett Brown said.

“Nathan’s been dominant in both games here and he’s a legitimate low post threat that demanded double teams.

“When you think about his continued development alongside three quality bigs like Matthew Nielsen, Andrew Bogut and David Andersen it’s exciting and there will be a lot less pressure on him with those guys alongside him than he got tonight.

“We shot the ball poorly from the perimeter and Nathan was our shining light in the post offensively and we used him. China, on the other hand, shot very well but overall I’m extremely proud of this young group.”

After winning the opening match in Beilun 84-78, China was on the front foot from the outset of the second match in Benxi, leading 26-10 after one quarter and 36-20 at half time.

But the inexperienced Boomers side stayed toe-to-toe in hostile territory with a Chinese outfit boasting eight Beijing Olympians for 20 minutes across the second and third quarters and Australia was not done yet as the game entered its final quarter with the score, 54-38.

That was before Jawai’s outstanding effort and the hustle of a Boomers side that could not brag of a single World Championship or Olympic Games cap among them.

The team will arrive back in Sydney on Qantas flight QF130 at 8:30am on Thursday morning and enjoy a twenty day break before an extended squad undergoes a six day training camp in Sydney from July 21-27.

A touring side is then selected to depart for tournaments in Argentina and Brazil (July 27 – August 10) before a pre-FIBA Oceania Championship training camp in Sydney from August 18-22.

The Boomers then face New Zealand at the State Sports Centre at Olympic Park on Sunday 22 August in the first of a two game series to decide bragging rights as well as 2010 FIBA World Championship seedings, with the second match played in Auckland on August 25.

Quarter by quarter:

1. CHN 26 AUS 10
H. CHN 36 AUS 20 (10-10)
3. CHN 54 AUS 38 (18-18)
4. CHN 74 AUS 61 (20-23)

CHINA 74 (Wang Zhizhi 13, Li 12, Fy Zhu 8)
AUSTRALIA 61 (Nathan Jawai 28, Steven Weigh 6, James Harvey 5, Oscar Forman 5)
in Benxi, China
China wins series 2-0

In the next few days there will be reports from the Under 19 World championships and the World University Games. Until then, Happy Hooping.

Emus Ready for the World

Australia's Under 19 team finished off preparations for the upcoming FIBA Under 19 World Championships by winning the Four Nations tournament held in Melbourne recently. In the first game of the tourney, Australia ran out to an impressive 96-74 win over Greece. Brock Motum lead the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Ample support was provided by Ryan Broekhoff who scored 17 points while Cody Ellis chipped in with 13 points and 4 assists. Jorden Page scored an additional 13 points for the Emus.

In the final match, Australia was again lead by Brock Motum who scored 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds as the Emus narrowly defeated Spain to win the trophy. Cody Ellis with 13 points 9 rebounds, Jorden Page, 11 points and Ryan Broekhoff 10 points, 9 rebounds, lead the supporting cast for Australia.

The other final day result went to Greece with a 84-65 defeat of France.

In the first round, Australia barely defeated France 85-83 thanks to 20 points from Brock Motum, 12 points and 10 rebounds from Mitchell Young, 15 points from Cody Ellis and 14 points/4 assists from Matthew Dellavedova.

The other first round result saw Greece bounce Spain 95-71. In the other second round encounter, France held off Spain 74-71.

The Final Ladder for the tourney stacked up as:
Australia 3 wins, 0 losses
Greece 2 wins, 1 loss
France 1 win, 2 losses
Spain 0 wins, 3 losses

All four teams will be participating in the World finals in Auckland New Zealand starting on July 2.

Draft...the day after, Speculation time.

With the NBA Draft over and done with albeit hugely overshadowed by other world events in the last day, we can now take a look at who came out winners and who stuffed it up.

Winners:

Denver Nuggets-Ty Lawson was a steal with the 18th pick draft and trade deal. He will provide solid backup to Billups and Anthony and eventually become the teams leader from the point.

LA Clippers-Taylor Griffin was the stud of this years draft and the Clippers were right in taking him. He will have time to adjust and will have a healthy Kaman and Camby up front to help shoulder the load. Will this be enough for the Baron to return to being a productive team first player?

Memphis Grizzlies-Drafted well and could get immediate help from Carroll and Thabeet will be a dominant defensive force in the years to come. Young was also a second round steal.

Orlando Magic-though they had no draft picks, the trade to bring Vince carter back to the Sunshine state will make all parties happy. The loss of Tukoglu may not be as tough as it once seemed.

San Antonio Spurs-No first round picks, no worries!! The Spurs made out like Bandits whether or not they keep or trade Blair, Jack McClinton can score with the best of 'em and the acquisition of Jefferson helps the team transform itself into more of a threat.

Philadelphia 76ers-The Sixers got a still when a lottery pick Jrue Holliday fell into their hands at pick 17.

Losers:

Chicago Bulls-Questions surround Johnson & Gibson.

Minnesota Timberwolves-Either a bad Chemistry experiment or stocking the shelves for a fire sale?? They are building, but what are they building??

Other Notes:

Shaq will again don the number 33 for the first time since his college days for his Cleveland debut next season.

Rubio did not show up at a Wolves press conference.

Turkoglu opts out of Orlando contract.

Next week I will start looking at the upcoming Under 19 World Championships, the WNBA, the local Aussie scene and a few other things.

Nelson says the Warriors will not trade Curry.

'til then ... shoot 'em if you're open and if not, drive and dish!!

The Diesel pulls into Cleveland, hooks up Championship train!!

Shaquille O'Neal has left the building in Phoenix and headed for Cleveland in hopes of winning another title before hanging up the big boots. In a Draft Eve trade O'Neal was sent to the Cavs in exchange for Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic and a 2010 second round draft pick. The combonation of the big Diesel with King James has Cav fans rejoicing in the streets.

In another big trade, Vince Carter has gone home to Florida after a trade by the New Jersey Nets sent him to the Magic along with Ryan anderson for Rafer Alston, who will return to the NYC/Mix Tape area where he is a cult figure, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie. A healthy Carter could be the slasher the Magic are looking for in their quest for finals glory next season.

I will have a complete wrap up of todays draft and other trades in tomorrows blog...'til then, happy speculating.