ΝΒΑ Εuro-watch (9/12 – 15/12)

By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net

Damian Lillard stole the show on Sunday in the 94-95 win of the Blazers over New Orleans, however Nicolas Batum‘s all around game was more than impressive. The French forward had 11 points, 10 assists (career high), 5 rebounds, 5 steals, 5 blocks and 2 turnovers. At Toronto, Jose Manuel Calderon had a triple double (18 p., 14 as., 10 r.) and the Raptors beat the Rockets 103-96. Last but not least the Nuggets defeated the Kings 122-97 with Danilo Gallinari (18 p.) and Kosta Koyfos (12 p., 7 r.) scoring in double digits.

NBA 2012-2013 – 16/12

POR	95 – 94	NOH
SAC	97 – 122	DEN
TOR	103 – 96	HOU
PHI	98 – 111	LAL

Montenegrin Nicola Vucevic added one more double double (13 p., 13 r.) in Orlando’s win, Italian Marco Belinelli was the top scorer (19 p.) and French Joakim Noah added 12 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in the win of the Bulls over the Nets, Spurs‘ leader Tony Parker had 22 points over the Celtics, but Saturday was the night of Ricky Rubio. The explosive Spaniard return to the court after nine months and help the Timberwolves get the overtime win over Dallas (114-105) with 9 assists and 8 points. Russians Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved had 14 points and 18 points respectively. Montenegrin Nicola Pekovic was the top scorer with 21 points.

NBA 2012-2013 – 15/12

SAS	103 – 88	BOS
NYK	103 – 102	CLE
MIN	114 – 106	DAL
ATL	93 – 115	GSW
DET	77 – 88	IND
MIL	85 – 111	LAC
CHI	83 – 82	BKN
CHA	98 – 107	ORL
UTA	86 – 99	MEM
MIA	102 – 72	WA

Lithuanian Linas Kleiza had 20 points and Toronto, despite missing injured Andrea Bargnani who ripped his team in a “Gazzetta Dello Sport” interview, beat Nowitzki-less Dallas 95-74. Vucevic had 17 rebounds in the 99-85 Orlando’s win over Golden State and Pekovic registered a career high 31 points in Minesota’ win over New Orleans with Kirilenko adding 21 points and 11 rebounds. The Suns beat the Jazz 99-84 with the Euro-duo of Goran Dragic (17 p., 5 as.) and Marcin Gortat (12 p., 14 r.) doing their duty. Also OKC beat Sacramento and has the best record in the league (19-4) with Swiss Thabo Sefolosha scoring 15 points and Spaniard Serge Ibaka having a double double (18 p., 11 r.).

NBA 2012-2013 – 14/12

HOU	101 – 89	BOS
TOR	95 – 74	DAL
BKN	107 – 105	DET
ORL	99 – 85	GSW
WAS	96 – 102	LAL
CLE	86 – 90	MIL
NOH	102 – 113	MIN
IND	95 – 85	PHI
OKC	113 – 103	SAC
PHX	99 – 84	UTA
DEN	99 – 94	MEM

In the French “clash” Portland beat San Antonio (98-90). Batum had 11 points, 8 assists and 3 rebounds for the winners, Spaniard Victor Claver had 2 steals in 12 minutes, Englishman Joel Freeland wasn’t used and both Euro-rookies were sent after the game in the NBDL a couple of days. For the losing side Parker was once again the top scorer (21 p.), Boris Diaw added 7 and Nando De Colo 2 points.

 NBA 2012-2013 – 13/12

ΑTL	113-90	CHI
NYK	116-107	LAL
POR	98-90	SAN

The duo of Noah (21 p., 7 r. 5 as., 3 bl.) and Englishman Luol Deng (19 p., 12 r.) together with Marco Belinelli (16 p.) made the difference in the 96-89 win of the Bulls over the Sixers. The Rockets beat the Wizards (99-93) with Turk Omer Asik (9 p., 16 r.) winning the battle of Euro-center over French Kevin Seraphin (4 p., 4 r.). One more Turk, Ersan Ilyasova had a double double (16 p., 14 r.) in the win of Bucks over the Kings (98-85) but the biggest Euro play of the night belonged to Goran Dragic who made the bucket against Marc Gasol and gave to the Suns the 82-80 win over Memphis. Also Minnesota beat Denver 108-105 with Pekovic shining (22 p., 11 r.) against Gallinari (24 p.) and Koufos (6 p., 7 r.).

NBA 2012-2013 – 12/12

ORL	80 – 86	ATL
OKC	92 – 88	NOH
PHI	89 – 96	CHI
IND	96 – 81	CLE
BOS	117 – 115	DAL
MIN	108 – 105	DEN
MIA	95 – 97	GSW
CHA	94 – 100	LAC
TOR	88 – 94	BKN
MIL	98 – 85	SAC
UTA	99 – 96	SAS
PHX	82 – 80	MEM
HOU	99 – 93	WAS

The Wizards got the win over Hornets (77-70) with Seraphin having a decent night (8 p., 8 r.). Belinelli scored 18 points in the defeat of the Bulls by the Clippers (94-89).

NBA 2012-2013 – 11/12

CHI	89-94	LAC
NOH	70-77	WAS
DET	94-101	DEN
CLE	100-94	LAL
BKN	97-100	NYK

It was a night to remember for Tony Parker as he had his first career triple double (27 p., 12 r., 12 as.) and led the Spurs to an overtime win (134-126) over the Rockets. Asik had big numbers for Houston (21 p., 10 r.) but it weren’t enough. The Blazers beat the Raptors (92-74) without Batum.

NBA 2012-2013 – 10/12

MIA	101 – 92	ATL
PHI	104 – 97	DET
CHA	96 – 104	GSW
DAL	119 – 96	SAC
HOU	126 – 134	SAS
POR	92 – 74	TOR

Ilyasova contributed 10 points in the 97-88 win of the Bucks over the Nets. Gallinari had 21 points and 9 rebounds in his return to New York, but the Knicks beat the Nuggets (112-106) and Orlando prevailed over Phoenix (98-90) with Vucevic (12 p., 9 r.) and Gortat (12 p., 6 r.) having similar numbers.

NBA 2012-2013 – 9/12

LAC	102 – 83	TOR
NYK	112 – 106	DEN
OKC	104 – 93	IND
BKN	88 – 97	MIL
PHX	90 – 98	ORL
LAL	110 – 117	UTA