Basketball News

Shane Battier - Who is this guy, really?

2009-02-20T15:58:00.005+02:00

One thing is for sure. Shane Battier is not an All-Star type player, or not even a player fans or general managers in NBA look forward to see him playing in their team. But all these facts don't mean that he can't make a difference in a team where he plays. Especially, he can be very impressive in defense and is easily capable of decreasing the efficiency of the most scorer and dangerous player of the oppenent. Whether he is Kobe or LeBron, it doesn't matter.

His stats have never been remarkable during his career in NBA. For instance, he has scored 10,1 points and grabbed 4,8 rebounds per game up until today, whereas these figures are 6,8 and 4,9 respectively in this season. But the interesting thing, which still looks astonishing, is that he manages to stay on the court 33,4 minutes per game despite all these states given above. He is still proving that he deserves to be regarded as "a valuable part of the team". He can add important value to his team that can't be easily observed in the stats sheet.

There is a long but very interesting and highly informative article about Shane Battier of Houston Rockets written by Michael Lewis on NY Times Magazine. You can read the all via this web-page.

Partizan - Unbeatable at Home

2009-02-19T13:00:00.000+02:00

Partizan is one of most diffucult teams for visitors to play against. The venue, Pionir, where Partizan plays their home games is generally packed with very loyal supporters in Euroleague fixture. Therefore, the team takes all the advantages of having this powerful backing while they clash with the top teams in the league.

It can already be seen in the stats that the winning percentage in the home court has been quite high during this season. For instance, in this first phase of this year's Euroleague, they won 4 home games out of 5. The only game they have lost is the one against the defending champion, CSKA Moscow. It was a one-point margin loss, which is quite acceptable. The teams that returned to their homes with empty hands were Real Madrid, Efes Pilsen, AJ Milano and Panionios.

The winning behavior is still continuing in Top 16. So far, they beat both Malaga and Lottomatica Roma in Pionir. They are now the second position in the group; have a good chance to move to the quarterfinals.

Ramon Sessions - On the rise

2009-02-18T11:00:00.000+02:00

Ramon Sessions has been the surprise package for the Bucks, and also for all NBA followers around the globe. Before last years, most of us doesn't know anything about Sessions, and probably never heard of him.

Despite being selected by the Bucks in the 2007 draft, he started the season with playing in one of NBDL teams, Tulsa 66ers. However, he was able to show his potential and guarding skills there along with some impressive stats. Then, he was called up to the Bucks in March'08 and started playing in the remaining games of the regular season, where the team had already lost the play-off battle. In April 14th, the stats sheet was very bright for him; 20 points, 8 rebounds and 24 assists. Wow, ha! Moreover, it was the first and only "20-20" performance in the Bucks history.

Sessions has been performing well this season too. The averages for the month of February are 26 pts and 10,5 assist per game. Hope to sustain this performance for the coming years!

Blake Griffin - No.1 in 2009 Drafts?

2009-02-17T16:52:00.002+02:00

Blake Griffin has had a tremendous season so far in the Sooners, Oklahoma University. Last saturday in Valentine's Day against Texas Tech Red Raiders, his performance was easily regarded as the best one in his career to date. He scored 40 points and got 23 rebounds in only 31 minutes. Due to this performance, naturally he was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the fifth time this season.

Among all basketball players in NCAA Divisions, he ranks ninth nationally with 22.8 points per games. He is the national leader with 14.2 rebounds per game, though. If he keeps this marvellous performance in the next game against Texas on satuday, he can definitely make his team, the Sooners, be ranked as the No.1 in Associated Press NCAA Rankings again after almost 20 years.

According to some basketball pundits, he is the best prospect among others for being picked as No.1 in the 2009 NBA Drafts. In the meantime, it would be quite charming and exciting if he was selected by Oklahama City Thunder, his home town both in high school and university.

A Total Disappointment - Part Two

2009-02-17T11:02:00.000+02:00

I watched the All-Star game before going to bed last night. By the way, it is far more convenient for me not to watch these exhibition games live. At least, I don't worry about the long and stupid commercial breaks and other useless off-the-court activities. I can only focus on the game and the things happening on the court; it takes only an hour to watch the all game.

Anyways, it was one of the worst All-Star games I have ever witnessed. There wasn't even one dunk or move that is worth remembering. The West team executed the zone defence during almost the entire game, which eventually caused the East to make lots of shots behind the arc. While The East had 34 three points attempts (just %23.5), the West finished the game with only 14. Sometimes, I needed to fast forward the game to see something interesting.

The things occured at the end of the night seemed so very well organized and predictable as if it was all about a play/story written before by NBA executives to attract the audience and the press. Even though Chris Paul could have been selected for the award after all the performance he showed (14 points, 7 rebounds, 14 assists, 3 steals), Kobe Bryant and Shaq O'Neal shared the MVP Award. Like one of the Eastern Conference executives said:

“It’s all about the story lines,” ... “You think the league didn’t want this to happen? Is this the NBA or WWF?”

That was most well put indeed!

Montepaschi - The Italian King

2009-02-16T13:49:00.001+02:00

Montepaschi Siena continues dominating the Lega Basket A. After defeating Carife Ferrara by 103-75 last weekend, Siena extended its winning streak to 19 games. They haven't been beaten by any Italian team yet since the domestic season started in October. They are ahead of the second place holder, Lottomatica Roma (13-6 record), after 19 weeks. The current Top 5 is as follows:

Montepaschi 19-0
Lottomatica 13-6
Bancatercas 12-7
Fortezza Bologna 12-7
NGC Cantu 11-6

They are 3 wins away to break the Italian record of having the longest consecutive winning streak, which is currently hold by Virtus Bologna. As I mentioned before, they are also playing very good in Euroleague and very likely to proceed to the quarter-final playoffs. I think this is the team everybody should keep an eye on.

The slam dunk contest - A total dissappointment

2009-02-15T15:56:00.000+02:00

Frankly speaking, I am not a big fan of All-star weekend and the hype sorrounding all the activities orginized during 3 days. Yes, I watch some of these activities every year and mostly am quite interested in the slam dunk contest. It is a kind of excitement to see whether the contenders show us something fresh and untested. But overall, the All-star stuff is not deserved to be taken very seriously contrary to opinions of some people, mainly the ones who broadcast the show every year.

I have just watched the slam dunk contest and other activies of the saturday night; 3 points contest, the skill challange etc. Even though Nate Robinson won the final, I think he was not better than Rudy Fernandez who unfortunately eliminated in the first round. Because Robinson is the shortest guy attending the contest (around 1.80 metres), the dunks he commits look more dashing and good. Especially the second dunk Fernandez did was really very impressive and I bet most of the players in the NBA can't do that. But for the jury, it was not enough to let him proceed to the final. I guess the dunk can be seen on youtube. If you have a chance to look at it, you will see what I mean.

I will probably watch the All-star game tomorrow. However, I have no great expectations to witness a basketball magic; but rather it would be a good game where I can see some star players on the court at the same time. That's all for me.

Legendary Players; #1 - Petar Naumoski

2009-02-15T14:12:00.005+02:00

The first guest of my "Legendary Players" section is the former Macedonian national team guard, Petar Naumoski. He can be easily defined as a "winner player" due to the fact that he was able to obtain 25 honors (Championships and Cups) during his fruitful 15 years of professional career. Some of them are as follows:

3 European Cups (2 with Jugoplastika/POP 84 Split and 1 with Benetton Treviso)
1 Korac Cup (with Efes Pilsen)
1 Saporta Cup (with Montepaschi Siena)
7 League Championships (2 with Jugoplastika/POP 84 Split and 5 with Efes Pilsen)

He started his professinal career by playing in also one of the legendary basketball teams of its era, Jugoplastika (then POP 84) Split in 1989. After a short spell in Rabotnicki, he moved to a Turkish team, Efes Pilsen in the year of 1992. Excluding a year in Benetton Treviso, he continued to command Efes Pilsen until 1999. During these years, he deserved to be recognized as the most vital player in the team while they achieved to have the first ever European Cup title won by any Turkish team in the history.

After leaving Efes Pilsen for playing the most competitive league in European Basketball, Italian League (Lega Basket), he spent almost 5 years in 3 different teams. These were Benetton, Montepaschi and Milano respectively. In the final year of his career, he returned to Turkey and wore the Ulker jersey. However, he was not able to be successful as he had been in Efes Pilsen due to his age and diminishing career.

He was an old-fashioned guard, who dominated the game and had a full control over his team. Every offence was started with him, and mostly finished by either himself or the points whose assists were being provided by him. He was very skillful on the court and also a reliable shooter behind the arc. Maybe he was not a type of player who blew the spectators' mind with his no-look passes or crazy dribbles; but rather he was a solid guard to do everything he could to make his team win the game.

Let the trade season begin!

2009-02-14T20:32:00.002+02:00

As the trade deadline is getting closer, NBA teams are still evaluating any chance of trade that can strenghten their squad for the remaining season or ease the financial burden emanated from the expensive and undesirable contracts they have. One of this type of trade has happened between the Rapstors and Miami Heat last night.

While Miami added Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon from the Raptors into their team, Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks moved to the other side of the border. Thanks to this trade, the Raptors were able to rid of the pricey contract of O'Neal and to have a chance to form more versatile squad on the court by creating a balancing mixture among Bosh, Bargnani, Marion and Calderon. On the other hand, the Heat have got another scoring option, and they can be more effective in the paint. Due to the fact that they already have a promising rookie, Michael Beasley who can play in the same position that Marion does, it has not been very hard for them to make a decision to trade Marion in favor of O'Neal.

Personally, I expect better results from the Raptors after the All-Star weekend is over. Time will tell...

Eric Gordon - Interview with a Rising Star

2009-02-14T15:01:00.005+02:00

Eric Gordon has proved so far this season that he is a promising point guard for the Clippers. Given the fact that Baron Davis is not a very reliable player in terms of continuity during the regular season and is getting older, Gordon has a good opportunity to establish himself as the starting player in the Clippers.

Owing to his performance this year, he has been selected to play in the Rookies team in the All-Star weekend in Phoenix. "Ball don't lie (BDL)" blog had an interview with him; there are some interesting things in it.

BDL: What about the differences between girls in both cities?

EG: (Laughs) Girls is girls. You're going to see them everywhere. It really doesn't matter.
BDL: They're a little more "enhanced" in L.A. though, right?
EG: Oh yeah. There's a lot of good looking girls in L.A. But, there's girls everywhere though.

EG: Nah, I'm still not really into it. I'm more of a movie type person, so all that reality stuff ... even though it happens in L.A., I'm not really into it.

You can read this interview via BDL Blog.

Mo Williams - On the rise

2009-02-13T11:20:00.005+02:00

It has been a very successful year for Mo Williams of Cleveland Cavaliers. Actually he deserves where he is right now by playing and scoring consistently. He becomes the second man in the team after the "King", LeBron James. The average points per game he scored in the first month of this year was 19,7. Moreover he has been selected to Eastern All-Star Team thanks to the injury Chris Bosh suffering.

The reason why I am writing this post is that he scored a career high 44 points (7 theree pointers) against Phoenix Suns last night. Good luck for the rest of the season!

Real Madrid continues flying high

2009-02-13T10:37:00.002+02:00

Real Madrid is still undefeated along with Panathinaikos after the third week in Top 16. Last night, Madrid team defeated the Israeli side, Maccabi Tel Aviv by 19 points, 98-79. It was a high quality match with lots of good skills, fightings, ups and downs for both teams.

Thanks to around 10,000 supporting fans, Madrid could easily sustain pressure on the guests during the game. They were quite though and intimidated the Maccabi players mainly in the paint. Reyes, Mumbru, Hervelle and Van den Spiegel created an unpleasant environment and didn't let them score easy points. Only, Lior Eliyahu managed to be productive for his team in the paint by scoring 20 points with a marvellous field goal percentage (10/11 2pt). The only player trying to keep Maccabi in the game was the former NBA player, Carlos Arroyo. He scored 21 points and had 5 assists.

For the home team, Louis Bullock performed very well and commanded Madrid during the time he was on court. He managed to score 24 points (4 three pointers) and to keep Maccabi at bay. Plus, Sergio Llull had a remarkable performance with 3 consecutive three pointers in the last 4-5 minutes of the fourth quarter.

Because Barcelona also won the game against Alba Berlin last night, the hope to promote to the quarter finals for Maccabi Tel Aviv has diminished. Now, they have to defeat both Barcelona and Real Madrid in the games that will be held in Israil. It shouldn't be enough though.

On the other hand, both Madrid and Tel Aviv did have a handful of players who used to play in Turkish teams before. These were Marcus Brown, Dee Brown, Charles Gaines, Quinton Hosley. It is good for the reputation of Turkish Basketball League.

Montepaschi beats CSKA in Top 16 game

2009-02-12T10:44:00.059+02:00

In the first day of 3rd week of Euroleague Top 16, Montepaschi Siena won the game against the defending champion CSKA Moscow by 18 points margin; 74-56. They played quite well in the third quarter and outscored the visitors by 11 points. Especially Terrell McIntyre led the team by 23 points with an almost perfect field goal percentage. (3/4 2pt FG and 3/4 3pt FG.)

Even though they are relatively weak in the bench compared to CSKA Moscow, Montepaschi Siena has a very strong and neat starting line-up. The group of McIntyre, Sato, Eze, Stonerook, Kaukenas, Domercant and Lavrinovic is the core of this team and it is an obvious fact that they are capable of coping with any team playing in the Top 16. Besides, there is a court advantage with passionate supporters that pack the Palapasports every home game. Actually, it was one of the factors that Siena won the game last night.

In the meantime, CSKA Moscow has some serious issues concerning the integrity of the game they are playing. They couldn't successfully coordinate the defence and also made lots of turnovers in the second half which eventually let Montepaschi widen the scoring gap. I can't give a name of even one player from CSKA that played above average. Maybe Terence Morris made efforts a little bit but it was not enough to stop the home team.