more Eurobasket news

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

Since my first post on the European Championships currently going on in Sweden
generated so much discussion and interest on this list  ( :>), here's an
update:

With the group play having concluded, the top 5 leading scorers are all NBA
guys - Gasol (26.7), Kirilenko (25.7), Nowitzki (22.7), Stojakovic (21.7), and
Okur (18.3). Kirilenko is also 5th in rebounding and had 6 blocks against
Serbia & Montenegro (that's one team :). Incidently, none of Russia,  Turkey,
Serbia-Montenegro and Germany-Bosnia-Nigeria won their group. Only Gasol among
the leading scorers  has managed to get his team to do that. He's also 8th in
rebounding (a field led by Mirsad Turkcan (10.0) and the Old Drobber, Predrag
Drobnjak (9.0)). 

Jasikevicius is the leading assist man by far (7.3), followed by Tony Parker
(4.3). Not coincidentally, both of these teams (Lithuania and France) have very
balanced scoring (~5 and 4 double digit scorers on each team, respectively),
and won their respective groups with a 3-0 record. They are also the #1 and #2
teams in scoring. Lithuania easily disposed of Nowitzki & Co. to win their
group. France ran through their group with an average margin of victory of 20
points. 

Btw, old friend, the allegedly newly motivated Moiso isn't doing all that much
for his team. Neither is Tsakalidis for Greece (another group winner), but a
guy the Celtics once flirted with, Dimos Dikoudis (or Ntikoudis, as they spell
it now) is playing pretty well. Another near-Celtic Songaila is 6th on his team
in scoring. Ray's faves Kristaps Valters (Latvia) and Zoran Planinic (Croatia)
have barely played and haven't done much when they did. Antoine Walker is NOT
leading the competition in attempted threes and TOs, but then again, he's not
playing in this tournament (German bureaucracy was too slow in processing his
citizenship application). The good news is, it is possible - though by no means
a lock - that he would make the Top 25 in this competition :)
Kestas