Anyone following any of this? Could be the closest we come to professional basketball for a while.

http://www.eurobasket2011.com/en/cid_4, ... _7983.html

Omer Asik had a HUGE day with 4 points a few boards and blocks. He seems to have fully recovered from the knee injury that shut him down against the Heat.

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Quick blurb from KC Johnson on today's action. Looks like Great Britain could have used Ben Gordon.

Whenever there is another NBA season, Omer Asik will have some bragging rights over Luol Deng.

Asik and his Turkish national team blew out Great Britain and Deng 90-61 in EuroBasket competition Thursday in Lithuania. Asik had seven points and nine rebounds as Turkey improved to 2-0 in the competition, which qualifies teams for the 2012 London Olympics.

Deng scored 22 points for Great Britain, which dropped to 0-2. As the host country, Great Britain already has secured a berth.

In other action, Joakim Noah posted nine points and nine rebounds as France improved to 2-0 with an 85-68 romp over Israel.

Asik putting up some decent numbers, yet lost to Noah yesterday. The Turkish sensation is playing as I type against Deutschland. He had 8 points/5 rebounds in the third before the site cut off my access to the live action.


Noah helps France top Asik, Turkey
By K.C. Johnson Tribune reporter

12:39 p.m. CDT, September 7, 2011
Sparring partners in Chicago Bulls practice, Joakim Noah and Omer Asik squared off with high stakes again on Wednesday.

Noah's French team downed Asik's Turkish team 68-64 in second-round play at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania. Qualifying spots for the 2012 London Olympics are up for grabs in the tournament, which France has overachieved in thus far.

Noah only posted seven points and four rebounds in 16 minutes, with three of his rebounds offensive. But Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 20 points and hit clutch free throws down the stretch to help France secure the victory.

Asik, who has played well throughout, finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for Turkey.

I don't want to go through an entire winter without my Omar Asik fix

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I gotta agree. It sucks that this is the only semi decent basketball we are going to see (if you want to pay for EuroBasket) until the Olympics next year.

Kaman and Dirk are scoring machines.

Here is the link for play by play etc. No video, but you can get the essence of the game. 6 minutes left in the 4th. The Ruhr Runners are up by 3.

http://live.fibaeurope.com/www/Game.asp ... 801&lng=en

Damn. Dirk is getting the Jordanesque calls from the refs. Asik just picked up his 3rd foul. Turks down by 6 now with 4 minutes left.

Omer just had his shit swatted by Heiko Schaffartzik who is all of 1.83 tall.

Omer with the team's last 4 points. Turkoglu sucks man. OK. Here we go Omer is on the line. Let's see how he does. Turkey down by 6 with 2 minutes left.

1 of 2. Some things never change.

The Turkish sensation is on fire fellas. 17 and 10 for the big guy. Asik is kicking some German ass.

Give Omer 2 more! Turks within 2 points with 1 minute to play.

Türkoglu is just heaving crap up and letting Omer collect the rebound and dunk it. 19/11 so far.

One point game and under a minute. They pull Asik. Probably a good call since he can't hit a free throw.

Omer=Shaq

That comparison is an insult to Omer

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Man a high school team shoots free throws better than the Turks. 69-67 with 19 seconds to go.

Is Dirk playing for the Germans or did he skip this to keep celibrating the title win?

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Game over man. Dirk teaches the Turks how to finish off a game at the free throw line. Take note Turkeys.

Asik's line:
Stats
FG 9/15
FT 1/5
RB 11 (7/4)
TO 3
Pts 19

Gotsta get better from the charity stripe. He was high rebounder for the game by a mile, tied Dirk in points. He was high point man for Turkey. That's no gouda for Turkey.

Seems to be a great deal of interest in Eurobasket. Link with some highlights. Asik highlights at :16 and 1:20. Nothing special, but it's all we got.

http://www.eurobasket2011.com/en/coid_A ... de_on.html

Germany lived to fight another day by upsetting Turkey at the EuroBasket on Friday night in Vilnius. And they received a timely lift from Philipp Schwethelm in the 73-67 Group E victory.

Schwethelm caught fire in the fourth quarter, burying three shots from the arc as Germany prevailed to improve to 1-3. Chris Kaman had 20 points and seven rebounds while Dirk Nowitzki, who played with foul trouble the entire game, ended up with 19. Germany's win means they will go into Sunday, when they take on hosts Lithuania, with a chance to advance to the last eight.

"We played our worst first half of the summer but we only trailed by a few points at the break," Schwethelm said. "In the second half we made big shots and we won."

Everything seemed to be going according to plan in the first half for Turkey. Orhun Ene's team led by as many as 12 points but Germany, relying on the offensive firepower of Kaman, finished the second quarter strong. Kaman had nine points in the first half and the Germans drew to within 24-23 on a Heiko Schaffartzik three-ball in the final minute. A pair of Hedo Turkoglu free-throws gave Turkey a 26-23 lead at the break.

By the end of the third quarter, however, Germany had moved in front and again it was a jumper by Schaffartzik that gave them a 48-46 lead.After Nowitzki banked in a jump shot for the third time in the game for a 52-49 lead with 6:48 remaining, Schwethelm heated up. His first three-ball extended the lead to 55-49 and following a shot from the left corner by Ersan Ilyasova, Schwethelm hit his second trey to restore the six-point lead. Kaman then powered his way up for a basket and fouled on the play, he sank the free-throw to make it 61-52.

Omer Asik, Turkey's starting center, kept his team alive with dunks and offensive rebounds.

His slam on a fast-break cut the deficit to 61-55 with 3:18 to play and after another Schwethelm jumper, Asik slammed one home to make it 63-57.

Asik's offensive rebound and put-back with a dunk cut the gap to 63-60 with 1:42 to play and the big man then showed off his jump-shooting skills by nailing one in the lane to make it 64-62.

Schwethelm responded with his third three-pointer to take the lead back to 67-62 but after a timeout, Ender Arslan raced into the lane, dribbled past Nowitzki and laid the ball up and in. Schwethelm's luck then run out as Emir Preldzic blocked his attempted three on the left wing. The Germany sharpshooter complicated matters by fouling Preldzic, and he sank two free-throws to cut the Germany lead to 67-66 with 27 seconds to play. Turkey had to foul and put Steffen Hamann on the line and the veteran playmaker sank two attempts to give Germany a three-point advantage. Not wanting Turkey to attempt a three, Germany fouled Preldzic with 21 seconds to go and he made just one of two attempts to leave Germany on top, 69-67. Germany rebounded and Turkey fouled Nowitzki, who converted both opportunities.

No one hit as many big shots at Schwethelm. Schwethelm, who finished with 14 points, was all smiles after the game. "I was angry and upset before the game that I had to start to get my rhythm," he said. "For me as a shooter it was important to get open shots. "I knocked down the shots. "It feels good to catch a rhythm and hit big shots in the big game."

Turkey suffered an upset at the hands of Poland in Group A and almost missed out on a place in the Second Round. They advanced when Great Britain beat the Poles on the last day. Now they will have to beat Serbia on Sunday and hope that Germany lose. Otherwise, Turkey will not move on to the Quarter-Finals and that will be seen as a huge failure back home, especially after the national team's runners-up finish in the 2010 FIBA World Championship.