For longtime readers of BallinEurope, here’s a brief trip down Memory Lane … we’ll call these “Tuesday cigarettes,” a collection of quotes, links and YouTubes (especially YouTubes) focused on the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Inhale and enjoy!
• Team Russia head coach David Blatt, who “was one of those kids crying when the American team lost the game in the Olympics when [Sergei] Belov made the shot at the end after the three replays,” weighs in on the 1972 Olympics at True Hoop … and reaches a surprising conclusion.
• You’ve seen the commercials on FIBA TV and probably during Turkish television broadcasts as well. But does anyone know how that “we play and drive by the rules” safe driving ad campaign is going…?
• Should Team USA’s Russell Westbrook take up Gilbert Arenas’ reportedly now disused “Agent Zero” nickname or should he be “Zero Gravity”?
• While the games are being played, politics continues. FIBA yesterday announced its newly-elected president, Yvan Mainini of France, who takes over from Australia’s Bob Elphinston.
• Going into the imminent quarterfinal confrontation between Serbia and Spain, a few media outlets are recalling two of the most memorable games of Eurobasket 2009: the first (in which Serbia upset heavily-favored Spain, thereby announcing they came to play) and the last (in which Spain took care of business against Team Serbia).
• Derrick Rose is low-maintenance, apparently.
• NBA Fanhouse is getting on the Oniki Dev Adam’s bandwagon.
• Coach Dusko on Spain: “We are well aware of the fact they are [the] favorites, but it’s great we’ll have an opportunity to show who we are, where we stand and the kind of basketball we are capable of producing against opposition like this.”
Oh, and Team Serbia is reporting ankle injuries to Stefan Markovic and Marko Keselj, but neither are serious.
• New Zealand is still happy with their lads’ performance in the tournament, despite the big loss to Russia last night.
• Official BallinEurope Fearless Predictions™ for tonight’s games: Lithuania blows past China, and Brazil picks’n’rolls their way past Argentina.
