International brillance

PARIS [The Monday International Show] - As we approach the new year and also the first quarter signpost of the NBA regular season, this seems like a good time to take stock in the international players who have been, for the most part, brillant!

The best team in the league so far is San Antonio thanks to good health after smart summer preparation for their big international trio of Ginobili-Parker-Duncan ,in that order of importance, because Tim Duncan is letting the other two carry the load on offence while conserving gas in his tank for the playoffs.

Tony, conquering his personal problems recently with season best performances on the court, deserves to be an All-Star but might be barred by his own teammate Ginobili who is simply the best scorer on the league's best team while also hitting some game-winners that mark people's memories.

With a young bench, a more offensive style of play, great 3-point shooting and the renaissance of Richard Jefferson, the Spurs are poised to challenge Dallas and the Lakers for supremacy in the western conference. Those two teams have also been leaning heavily on their international players starting with Dirk Nowitski, an early candidate for a second MVP trophy, the leader of an atypical but tall and deep roster which defends better while using alot of zone defence.

Like Greg Popovich, Rick Carlisle has adapted his philosophy to the players on his team with a lot of intelligence. For instance, individually the Mavs are not great defenders but they are so long and tall that a zone pushes the opponents far away from the paint and the easy inside shots! With three young French role players and a revigorated Tyson Chandler, the Mavs are much better than expected whereas the Lakers are maybe a little bit less dominating compared to pre-season predictions but I feel the return of Andrew Bynum will gradually push them to the top of the conference.


The world's best big man,Pau Gasol, was the league MVP after ten games as Kobe transferred alot of offensive responsibility onto his shoulders and the all-around talented Spaniard was atop the efficiency rating chart until just recently when the incredible Team USA standout, Kevin Love, took over the number one spot.

Pau's brother Marc is struggling a bit right now with a Memphis team that hasn't found its hierarchy or rythmn yet. Same thing in Portland for Nick Batum and Rudy Fernandez who are up and down on a Blazer team decimated by injuries and bad luck. In Oklahoma City, Sefolasha,Ibaka and Krstic are perfect international complements to the All-star and Team USA tandem, Durant-Westbrook.

In the east, alot of the talk surrounds Miami, New York and Boston and their impressive win streaks. The Heat's three amigos are playing defence again while sharing the ball and enjoying life instead of succombing to the intense media pressure and opposing fans' scorn. Coach Eric Spoelstra has also adapted his philosophy (or Pat Riley's) to his talent, making a smart deal with his stars to let them run and freelance on offence if they accept to lock down together on the defensive end!

International players Joel Anthony and Z. ilgauskas are helping to hold down the fort on defence in the paint. The other Florida team,Orlando, has just decided on a major shakeup of their roster in order to compete with Miami and Boston and it will take some time before we know the true impact but Hedo Turkoglou and Mike Pietrus hope that a fresh start with a new team will relaunch their stagnating careers.

It will also take time to see what Chicago can do because of the unfortunate injury to Joakim Noah which will make him miss two months after a short but encouraging period where he, Luol Deng and Calos Boozer showed great promise together on the court for the improving Bulls.

It's interesting to note that the NBA's three Italian players have put up some good numbers as Marco Belinelli is a starter in New Orleans, Danilo Galinari an integral piece alongside the fabulous Amarè Stoudamire on a resurging New York squad and Andrea Bargnani just popped 41 points in a game for Toronto! This is good news for Dino Memeghin and the tifosi supporting the Italian national team.

Globally, we can state that the international players have had a stellar first quarter of the NBA season