Spain won their second straight EuroBasket championship yesterday, defeating Tony Parker and France, 98-85. Juan Carlos Navarro, the former Memphis shooting guard, stole the show. Navarro scored 27 points in a victory, describing his Spanish team as “historic.” Pau Gasol went for 17 & 10 while Oklahoma City Thunder center Serge Ibaka added 10 points and five blocks (all during a brief period in the second quarter when Spain jumped on top). This was Ibaka’s first tournament with the Spanish team after being granted citizenship in July. Read More »

Kobe Bryant might be old, and getting up there in mileage, but don’t you think he’s still the best offensive option the Lakers have? Mike Brown may not agree with you. Of course, no one is going to keep the Mamba from feeding, but Brown sounds contrite when he mentions going inside to Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Again. And again. And again. In Cleveland, Brown was criticized for turning the Cavs into “LeBron brings it up, LeBron holds it, LeBron calls for a screen-roll, LeBron holds it, LeBron drives to the rim, LeBron shoots or passes.” That never worked in the playoffs for obvious reasons (it’s never worked for ANYONE). Read More »

Call ‘em whatever you like: Thrillers, classics, epics, or just games with so many balls on display they’d make the Borat director’s cut. Either way, after the last couple of days of World Championship goodness, we don’t wanna see Team USA in another sloppily vicious 30-piecing when they face Russia today. Tip-off is at 11 a.m. EST, so make sure you’re on DimeMag.com to check out our live blog of the action. The biggest X-factor in this game for the U.S. will be Derrick Rose. Read More »

All things considered, Spain vs. Team USA might be the most entertaining basketball rivalry on the planet right now. They don’t meet up nearly as often as Duke and North Carolina, or have the historical context of Lakers vs. Celtics, and their games don’t get as physical as any given Washington D.C. playground war. But as far as producing consistently close results and quality basketball with emotions on high, USA/Spain is up there with any rivalry out there currently … The last time the two national squads met, Kobe led the U.S. in a gold-medal game thriller in the ’08 Olympics over Pau Gasol‘s Spanish team. With the Lakers’ teammates sitting out this summer, yesterday’s pre-World Championship exhibition was another down-to-the-wire contest … Read More »