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Road
to Turkey |Turkey
Bound James denied at the end as Cavs fall to Bulls
 The
Quicken Loans Arena hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the Cleveland
Cavaliers this season. That
was certainly the case on Thursday night in an 86-85 home defeat
for LeBron James and the Cavs to the Chicago Bulls.
James, the superstar
who has yet to announce if he will play for Team USA at the 2010
FIBA World Championship in Turkey, had a chance to win the game
at the end for Cleveland but was denied by Chicago Bulls pair Luol
Deng of Great Britain and Joakim Noah of France. With 4.3 seconds
left in the game, Cleveland inbounded the ball to James and he drove
hard to the basket but missed his shot and failed to draw a foul
from Deng, or Noah who had left Shaquille O'Neal to help defend.
"It's a call you think you may get," James said.
"I felt a
push from Deng and some contact over the top from Noah. Enough to
put me on the free throw line? Yes. But that's a judgment call for
the officials." Noah was adamant there was no foul. "I
didn't feel like it was even close to being a foul," Noah said.
"I wasn't worried because
there was no contact at all." James
finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, a steal and
a block while Noah, who is likely to represent France at the FIBA
World Championship, had 11 rebounds to go with his seven points.
Deng had 15 points,
seven rebounds and three assists and also swatted a shot. The Londoner
will play next year in Turkey if Great Britain receive a wild card
for the 24-team event. Cleveland have lost two of their three home
games. Here are some other
notable performances from players that could be with their national
teams at the FIBA World Championship, including those who compete
in the Euroleague.
Brazil
Anderson Varejao - The Brazil big man had 12 points and 13 rebounds
in Cleveland's home defeat to Chicago in the NBA. Marcelo Huertas
- The point guard scored a season-high 21 points to fire Caja Laboral
to an 82-76 win at Union Olimpija in the Euroleague.
Tiago Splitter -
The Brazil center finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for
Caja Laboral.
Canada
Carl English - The shooting guard came off the bench and scored
eight points and grabbed four rebounds for Caja Laboral.
Lithuania
Rimantas Kaukenas - The Lithuanians sorely missed Kaukenas' scoring
and leadership at the EuroBasket in Poland when they crashed out
in the Qualifying Round. He had a team-high 17 points for Real Madrid
on Thursday in their 80-70 win over defending Euroleague champions
Panathinaikos. Lithuania will play at the FIBA World Championship
if they receive a wild card.
Darjus Lavrinovic - The big man had 15 points, five rebounds and
two steals for Real Madrid.
Mantas Kalnietis - The Zalgiris Kaunas guard scored 13 points, dished
out six assists and came up with three steals in his team's 77-70
home defeat to Regal Barcelona in the Euroleague.
France
Tony Parker - The San Antonio Spurs point guard scored 21 points
in their 113-99 defeat at the Utah Jazz.
Great Britain
Joel Freeland - The power forward, whose NBA rights are owned by
Portland, had 15 points and nine rebounds as Unicaja Malaga won
their third straight Euroleague game, 93-88, over Efes Pilsen.
Robert Archibald - The Britain center scored 12 points and grabbed
eight boards for Unicaja.
Turkey
Ender Arslan - The playmaker who comes off the bench for Bogdan
Tanjevic's Turkey scored 10 points and handed out eight assists
for Efes in their loss at Unicaja.
Mehmet Okur - The center scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds
in Utah's win.
Kaya Peker – The Efes Pilsen man scored 17 points, grabbed
seven boards and came up with three steals at Unicaja. The 30-year-old
center could be in line for a place in Turkey’s national team
again.
Argentina
Pablo Prigioni - The Argentina playmaker finished with 11 points,
four boards, two assists and two steals for Real Madrid in their
victory over Panathinaikos.
Manu Ginobili - Batman had 11 points, two rebounds, two assists
and two steals in San Antonio's 14-point defeat at Utah.
Spain
Sergio Llull - The Spain national team youngster, whose NBA rights
are held by Houston, had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists
for Real Madrid against Panathinaikos.
Ricky Rubio - The 19-year-old point guard finished with eight points,
five assists and six rebounds for Barcelona in their victory at
Zalgiris Kaunas.
Serbia
Novica Velickovic - The Real Madrid forward scored seven points,
grabbed four rebounds and came up with two steals against Panathinaikos.
Milenko Tepic - Velickovic's Serbia teammate had six points and
four rebounds for Panathinaikos in defeat.
Greece
Antonis Fotsis - The versatile Greek forward scored eight points
and corralled five rebounds for Panathinaikos.
Vassilis Spanoulis - The Panathinaikos guard had six assists and
three steals to go with his four points but turned the ball over
five times.
Nick Calathes - The former Florida Gator played less than 10 minutes
and had one point and one rebound for Panathinaikos.
Dimitris Diamantidis - Greece's best defensive player had seven
points and two assists for Panathinaikos but no steals or blocks.
Puerto Rico
Daniel Santiago – The big man had four points and two rebounds
for Efes Pilsen in less than 10 minutes off the bench.
Russia
Andrei Kirilenko - The EuroBasket 2007 MVP scored 12 points and
hauled in six rebounds for Utah in their 14-point win over San Antonio.
Kirilenko will play at the FIBA World Championship if Russia receive
a wild card.
Slovenia
Erazem Lorbek - The piano-playing big man of Slovenia scored 11
points and pulled down four rebounds in Barcelona's seven-point
win at Zalgiris Kaunas.
Jaka Lakovic - The sharpshooter buried three of four shots from
long range and finished with 11 points for Barca.
Bostjan Nachbar - The Slovenia star had 17 points for Efes Pilsen
in their five-point defeat at Unicaja.
Team USA
Carlos Boozer - The power forward had 27 points, 14 rebounds, two
blocks and two steals for Utah in the triumph over San Antonio.
Deron Williams - The USA playmaker scored 27 points, handed out
nine assists, pulled down seven rebounds and had a steal and a block
for Utah.
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