It’s hard to believe, but the 2012 Olympic Games are right around the corner. With the lockout possibly preventing us from seeing our favorite stars this winter, we are more excited than usual about international competition. Later this month, we will get a taste of six of the best the world has to offer at the London International Basketball Competition at the new Basketball Arena in east London. This will be the first action at London’s Olympic Park.
As part of the London Prepares Series, the tournament will be a tune-up for not only the teams involved, but also for the arena itself – a chance to test key aspects of its operations in preparation for London 2012 and EuroBasket 2011.
Though the U.S. team will not be competing, fans will get a chance to see Australia, China, Croatia, France, Great Britain, and Serbia competing in three games per day from August 16 to 21, which means NBAers Tony Parker, Joakim Noah, Nicholas Batum, Boris Diaw, Ben Gordon (hopeful he can get his situation figured out), Luol Deng, Bojan Bagdanovic and Nenad Krstic should all be on the court. Tickets are already available.
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