Category: Basketball

FIBA News: Poland gets second exhibition win

Brandon King

Poland closed out its pre-competition exhibitions with a 87-76 win over Georgia. Michal Michalak led Poland, knocking down 6 from downtown en route to a team-high 22 points. Poland will compete in Group D of the 2022 Eurobasket in Prague, along with host nation the Czech Republic, Serbia, Israel, Finland and the Netherlands, all with the goal of securing a berth in the the elimination round in Berlin. Poland will jump into Group E play for Eurbasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers with a home matchup against Croatia and a road game versus…

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LeBron James is taking his talents to the Crawsover

Brandon King

Jamal Crawford’s annual summer pro-am, The Crawsover is known for drawing participation from NBA players. This has been no different this summer with players such as new Atlanta Hawks teammates Trae Young and Dejounte Murray making appearances. Friday afternoon Crawford announced notable players that will take the Crawsover courts Saturday, a lineup that includes the aforementioned Murray, and Thunder rook Chet Holmgren. Oh, and some guy named LeBron. Having made his return to the Drew League earlier this summer after an 11-year absence, Lebron James will play in the Crawsover…

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Lithuania finishes friendly play undefeated with blowout of the Netherlands

Brandon King

Lithuania finished off the friendly match portion of their World Cup Qualifier and Eurobasket prep in emphatic fashion with a 94-68 thrashing of the Netherlands. Ignas Brazdeikis led the charge with 16 points, team captain Jonas Valančiūnas recorded 14 points, eight rebounds, 2 assists, and a block in 17 minutes of action. Domantas Sabonis of the Sacramento Kings scored 10 points, 5 boards, and four assists in 18 minutes of work. For the Netherlands Olaf Schaftenaar led all their scorers with 17 points; this loss took them to 0-5 on this…

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Eurobasket News: France cuts William Howard

Brandon King

Friday the French Federation of Basketball announced that William Howard was cut from the senior national team. The 28-year-olf forward was cut after the last friendly game against Belgium, which France won, 90-71. This trim the French team down to 12 players, which is the roster size allowed by FIBA rules. Though they are at the required size, the squad is not cemented as the team is waiting to see if Moustapha Fall and Andrew Albicy can recover from their injuries in time to play in the upcoming international competitions.…

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EuroBasket News: France beats up Belgium,90-71

Brandon King

France defeated a Belgium team that managed to hang around for one half of competitive basketball, Belgium only trailed by nine, 44-35 at halftime, before ultimately being dispatched, 90-71. Belgium’s frigid shooting, just 34.4% from the floor, and inability to stop the French offensive attack proved to be their undoing. For the victorious “Bleus”. Thomas Heurtel led the way with 13 points and 6 assists; Rudy Robert scored 12 points Fournier chipped in 10 points and 5 rebounds of his own. Retin Obasohan paced Belgium with 14 points and Jonathan…

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FIBA News: Sloukas leads Greece past Georgia, 80-67

Brandon King

Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was vested for the second of back-to-back exhibition games, the Greek national team was still able to defeat Georgia, 80-67. Kostas Sloukas’ 21 points, on 9/13 from the floor, lead the way for Greece. The Greek team needed all 21 of those points, as they only shot 8/34 from downtown and were even beaten on the boards by Georgia, 41-36. Sloukas, who has not been practicing with the team for a week ( just 5 days) , got some help from Kostas Antetokounmpo and Tyler Dorsey,…

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FIBA News: Finland defect Ukraine in OT,Lauri Markkanen drops 42

Brandon King

Lauri Markkanen got busy, dropping 42 big ones, in powering Finland to a 97-94 overtime win over Ukraine in a pre-Eurobasket exhibition game. In a performance that cavaliers fans hope to see ( and One Bulls fans never got) in the Association, Markkanen was a grown man in his 38 minutes of action, also grabbing nine rebounds and 3 steals to go along with the prodigious scoring output. Alexander Madsen chipped in 15 points, and Sasu Salin contributed 11. Svi Mykhailiuk led Ukraine with 20 points in a losing effect;…

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PG doing work at Rico Hines Runs

Brandon King

Injiries cost Paul George 51 games last season and as the team was already without Kawhi Leonard who tore his ACL in the previous postseason, severely limited the Clippers’ ceiling. George has been obviously been putting in the time rehabbing in preparation for the upcoming season, pulled up to the Rico Hines runs and looked like the player we have known him to be. Check out the video of PG doing some work below via ballislife.

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EuroBasket 2022: Luka says ”We are going to Germany to win gold”

Brandon King

On the eve of an anticipated Serbia/Slovenia exhibition game in Lubljana, Luka Doncic made it quite known that his goal was for his nation, Slovenia, the 2017 EuroBasket champions, to defend their crown at EuroBasket 2022. In speaking to local media, the Dallas Mavericks star had this to say: “Who’s talking about what kind of pressure? We are going to Germany to win gold. In every competition where we compete, the goal must always be the first place. We will do everything for it, but we will see if we…

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Bosnia-Herzegovina will be able to play in EuroBasket

Brandon King

It was recently reported that the Bosnian national team was having financial issues that could prevent it from participation in EuroBasket 2022. The Bosnian basketball federation had been able to raise some of the funds but still a shortfall remained. Despite the looming issues, the squad made the trip to Tartu, Estonia, splitting a pair of friendly matches with the host nation. According to reporting from Bosnian news outlet AA, the Basketball Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s request for financial aid was approved by the government. Having missed the 2017…

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