Brook Lopez only had twelve games with Deron Williams last season, so the opportunity to build a stronger rapport between the two — even overseas — is a welcome one. I imagine Deron and Brook wouldn’t have much trouble dominating the TBL, and the winning experience would certainly help the two after last year’s nightmare. Still, because of the NBA lockout and each player’s expiring contract, there’s a good chance this might be the last time they work together.
Besiktas had most recently pursued Lamar Odom, Carlos Boozer, and Marcin Gortat, but Lopez’s short rookie NBA contract makes him a viable candidate for Besiktas to sign for insurance purposes over the other three players.
How you know we’re in a lockout: Jordan Farmar earned the week 3 Euroleague MVP award today, after his 27-point, 10-12 shooting, 5-assist, 4-rebound performance lead Maccabi Tel-Aviv to an 88-82 victory this week. Farmar’s performance rating index (basically Euroleague’s PER) of 35 led all players, and he proved that if you’re faster than everyone else, attacking the basket is a good idea.
In other overseas New Jersey Nets news, Bojan Bogdanovic’s Fenerbahce Ulker and Deron Williams’s Besiktas Milangaz are facing off tomorrow at 4:30 PM EET, or 9:30 AM EST. That’s according to Fenerbahce’s official website, though it’s hard to gauge the accuracy of a one-sentence news brief when some schedules claim they should’ve played this morning.
As for this side of the basketball world, the players union and owners are meeting again today, and federal mediator George Cohen has returned to the sitcomnegotiations to provide a comedic twisttry to help both sides solve their BRI differences. We’ll see.
Jordan Farmar and Bojan Bogdanovic, two of the three Nets players the Nets have rights to in the un-locked-out alternate universe NBA (or ULOAUNBA, pronounced “you-loan-buh”) played well for their respective overseas clubs today. Bogdanovic scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting in 15 minutes for Fenerbahce, while Farmar dominated for Maccabi Electra Tel-Aviv, scoring 27 on 10-12 shooting, dishing five assists and drawing eight fouls. Both players did so in victories: Fenerbahce defeated SLUC Nancy 90-86, while Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv defeated Real Madrid 88-82.
Bonus: former Nets training camp invitee Jaycee Carroll scored 22 for Real Madrid.
Now, since we don’t have footage of any of these guys, here’s two of my favorite Euroleague bloggers miming Bojan Bogdanovic as a caterpillar.
Jordan Farmar had perhaps his worst overseas game yet, scoring just 6 points in 24 minutes on 1-5 shooting (and a dismal 3-8 from the line), but Maccabi outscored Barak Netanya 33-24 in the fourth quarter and came away with an 87-85 victory.
Farmar added five assists, but also committed five fouls and lost four turnovers in his second game in the Israel Basketball League (IBL) and 8th game overall overseas. Maccabi is 2-0 in the IBL, and 9-1 in their three leagues combined. Maccabi Tel-Aviv plays next on November 3rd, in a Euroleague contest against Real Madrid, led by Rudy Fernandez.
Jordan Farmar had one of his better all-around games in a Maccabi Electra uniform, scoring 11 points, dishing out a team-high six assists, and grabbing another team-high six rebounds as Maccabi Electra sustained a late rally by Partizan, winning 70-66. It was Farmar’s first game since sitting out the past two to rest an ankle injury.
Farmar is the shortest and slightest Maccabi player at 6’2″ and 188 lbs., and has never been a great rebounder, so to lead a team that has Richard Hendrix and Baby Shaq on its roster in rebounding is pretty cool. I only caught some of the first half, but Farmar attacked the basket early and scored six quick points in the first quarter… though he didn’t make another field goal for the game. He did knock down five of six free throws, which would indicate that he attacked the basket, and his six rebounds — all defensive — would argue the same the other way.
Maccabi Electra is in three — count ‘em, three — basketball leagues, so while most leagues only play one game per week, that’s tripled for Farmar. He’ll see the court again Saturday, against … Partizan again, who’s playing in both the Euroleague and the Adriatic League.
