Gibson Column: Krstic Keeps CSKA Undefeated; Reeves Nelson from L.A. to Lithuania

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BARCELONA — Regal Barcelona came into Thursday night letting up just 59 points per game. Montepaschi Siena scored more than half that in the final nine minutes and sent the team from Catalunya packing with their first loss of the year, a 77-74 final.

And though Siena’s Coach Simone Pianigiani has locked up five straight Italian Championships and is coming off of a Euroleague Final Four, this win belongs right near the top of his list.

Why? Because he beat Europe’s best team without his three best players.

In Bo McCalebb, Rimantas Kaukenas and Ksistof Lavrinovc, Pianigiani is missing out on an MVP candidate at the point, his second-leading scorer and one of Europe’s most accomplished stretch bigs, respectively. That’s 54 percent of Siena’s scoring, 51 percent of their assists and 60 percent of their steals (Siena led the Euroleague in thefts last season).

Still, for a second straight week without all three—McCalebb has missed just two games while the Lithuanians have missed three apiece—Pianigiani pulled off a win against a Top 16 team.

The first was a 67-64 road win against Galatasaray, who has already punched their ticket to the next round. In that match up, former New Orleans Hornet David Andersen (18) and reigning scoring leader Igor Rakocevic (17) combined for 35 of Siena’s 67.

This week, Rakocevic put up 21, but Andersen’s former club held him to just six points on 3/11 shooting. If you thought you were beating Barcelona on one man’s back, think again.

So on an injury-ridden team that had depth issues even when healthy, the scoring would either have to come from an unlikely candidate or not come at all.

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Gibson Column: Basile puts Cantu in Top 16; Bulls’ Mirotic killin’ it; ‘Melo crossed over by Bodiroga

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BARCELONA — They say you should act like you’ve been there before. With a Euroleague-best 396 career 3-pointers, Cantu’s Gianluca Basile had been there plenty.

Still, with the clock racing toward triple zeroes and the game tied at 64 in Bilbao, nobody thought Basile’s 35-foot heave would turn into number 397. Then it did, and some 8,000 Bilbao supporters sat in stunned silence. The scoreboard told them that Cantu had taken the lead 67-64, and that in one-tenth of a second their heartbreak would become official.

Bilbao’s Roger Grimau inbounded the ball to Marko Banic, who chucked it at the rim as a formality, but the buzzer had already sounded. Cantu had locked themselves into a Top 16 berth, becoming the first team in the Euroleague’s chaotic Group A to do so.

The 36-year-old Basile grinned like a teenager out past his curfew as his teammates chased him down and buried him beneath their bodies, reminding us that having been there and actually being there are two entirely different sensations.

A year ago today, nothing about this scene would’ve made sense. For starters, Gianluca Basile would have been in street clothes at the end of Barcelona’s bench, his season lost to a balky left foot which required surgery and made us wonder aloud if this would be it for the battle-hardened Italian.

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Gibson Column: How the end of the NBA lockout affects Euroleague

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BARCELONA — Bieber must have dumped Selena. Or the other way around. That, or the British are coming.

There are tweets in ALL CAPS. There are tweets with exclamation points. There are tweets in ALL CAPS followed by exclamation points. There are tweets comprised only of exclamation points that are re-tweeted with a “!!!!” preface from the re-tweeter.

But these aren’t the hormonal babblings of Beliebers, nor are they warnings of an impending attack from the red coats. These are men and women whose opinions I’ve willingly subscribed to by clicking ‘Follow.’

Writers, bloggers, basketball minds and insider-ish types—all of whom I respect, some of whom I even admire—who let their collective euphoria man the keyboard for a tweet or two, replacing their typically thoughtful, informative 140 characters with a virtual fist pump.

It was November 26, 2011, and the NBA lockout was apparently over. After 149 days of frustration and bewilderment, I fetl a breeze as my Twitter timeline exhaled.

Yet as I sat in my tiny Barcelona apartment, the two little fellas perched upon my shoulders violently exchanged pros and cons until my head was spinning.

“Well, say sionara to Andrei Kirilenko’s MVP season. The facemask would have complemented the pterodactyl tattoo expertly, too.

“Be well, Nicolas Batum. Fly safely, Jordan Farmar. There goes that book I was about to start writing. (Tomorrow probably. Yes, I definitely would’ve started tomorrow.) Damn, the traffic on Euroleague Adventures is about to take a hit.”

Then…

“At least we get to see Ricky Rubio commit the league’s most exciting turnovers for the Timberwolves, and Jan Vesely oop John Wall’s alleys in the Wizards’ new threads. Probably wasn’t ever getting around to writing that book anyways. Oh, and I guess we’re getting rid of Sasha Vuja—oh yeah. No NBA-out clause. We’re stuck with Floppy Sasha. There is no God.”

Eventually, I decide I’m ambivalent. It’s easier that way.

Somewhere in this same city, there’s a man whose head is far clearer than mine. He knows where he stands, what he’s accomplished and exactly how he’s accomplished it. No internal debate or structural changes to consider; there is only one task, and that is to maintain the momentum he and his team have manufactured through seven perfect weeks in the Euroleague.

That man is Xavi Pascual, Barcelona’s head coach.

Instead of placing bids on locked out rentals, Barcelona’s management spent their summer locking up proven stars who have already crested their learning curves.

Having Nicolas Batum for six games or Ty Lawson for seven is cool, but you know what’s even cooler? Having Chuck Eidson or Marcelinho Huertas for an entire season.

With money to spend and rumors aplenty, Barcelona could have snapped up a big fish fairly easily. Yet even as eligible bachelors like Rubio and the Gasol brothers stood on Pascual’s front lawn, strumming on their acoustics as they tossed pebbles longingly at his window, he could not be wooed.

After all, what good is an expensive Band-Aid when your opponents haven’t drawn a single drop of blood?

A little farther east of here in Athens, Zeljko Obradovic should share Pascual’s resolve. Although Panathinaikos has two losses on their résumé this season, the Greens are one of six Euroleague teams that have already clinched a Top 16 berth (the other five: Barcelona, Montepaschi Siena, Unics Kazan, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid).

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Mitnick Column: What NBA Players Learned In Europe

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From FIBA-Europe

With 43 players currently under NBA contracts having suited up in Europe over the last three months, it has become apparent that the differences between NBA basketball and European basketball may be greater than many had thought beforehand. After almost the entire 2010 gold medal U.S. team at the World Championship went on to have career seasons after spending the summer playing in Europe, it appears that the European game has a number of things American players can learn that could help improve their NBA games.

Here are five things NBA players have learned about European basketball during the NBA lockout.

European basketball is a team game

To the casual fan, the NBA provides the most entertaining brand of basketball of any basketball league in the world, as the one-on-one style promoted by the NBA’s rules makes for a great number of exciting plays. With no hand checking, and a n0-charge circle in the paint, players like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are able to provide several highlight reel dunks every game, and defenses are left with little ability to stop them. Since most NBA teams typically have two or three players who can dance their way to the basket, most teams run an offense that consists primarily of isolation plays and pick-and-rolls, giving two or three guys the majority of the touches on offense. This type of game makes top players get impressive stats, developing one or two “stars” on each team to help the league’s marketability.

In Europe, however, teams typically share the wealth in terms of overall production. Some of this may be attributed to the fact that the best players in the world play in the NBA, but, in general, this is due to the fact that European teams run very few isolation plays. Several players, such as Andrei Kirelenko, Danilo Gallinari, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez, fit right in with the European style as they get most of their offense through the flow of the game and don’t need the ball in their hands every play to be effective.

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Gibson Column: Navarro Breaks Euroleague Scoring Title. Who’s Up Next?

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BARCELONA — Chuck Eidson stared at a clear path to an empty basket as the crowd rose to their feet in Palau Blaugrana. Eidson knew this ovation wasn’t intended for him, so he glanced to his left and wisely shoveled the ball off to Juan Carlos Navarro, who caught it, took two steps and laid it up off the glass.

When the ball fell through the nylon, the Euroleague had a new all-time leading scorer. La Bomba had needed 14 points to pass Marcus Brown, and he hit that number on the nose as Barcelona dismantled Union Olimpija by a final score of 72-46.

But see, this Euroleague is a tricky business, and all-time really means since the 2000-01 season. That’s when Europe’s top-tier of competition came out from underneath FIBA’s direct rule and, as with any change in structure, all-time records usually have to make room for an asterisk.

Also, thanks to the compact Euroleague schedule, it’s tough to accumulate huge numbers. For instance, the maximum number of games any team can play in a Euroleague season is 24 (that number will become 32 next year with an expanded Top 16). Let’s take a peek at the continental leaders to show you what I mean:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 38,387 points in 1,560 games over 20 seasons.

Juan Carlos Navarro: 2,716 points in 198 games over 10 seasons.

They both have three names. Besides that, not too much in common.

But what’s attractive about 2,716 is its beatability. Juan Carlos is only 31 and very much in his prime, but there’s a whole new generation of scorers on the rise that could plausibly make a run at La Bomba before they shoot their final jumpers.

Nine that Navarro should look out for:

Erazem Lorbek, Power Forward, Regal FC Barcelona
159 games | 1,432 points | 27 years old

You drop your duffel on the YMCA hardwood and ask if you can hop into the next game. The folks on the court nod, call you over, and point out the tall, goofy character with the double chin and professorial part in his hair as if to say Check him. You nod back. Done.

Pick. Pop. Splash. Then a hook shot finds the bottom of the cup. Offensive board plus the putback. Elbow jumper. Finally, another triple and this lanky NASA technician has burned you for five straight buckets.

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