USA - Spurs claw their way back

SAN ANTONIO (NBA) - With their reign as NBA champions on the line, the San Antonio Spurs finally got the break they needed as they held on for a season-saving 98-97 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game Five of the Western Conference semi-finals.  Tim Duncan was again unstoppable with 36 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Spurs, who still face a 3-2 deficit in the series

FIBA Europe -

MUNICH (FIBA Europe) - George Vassilakopoulos earned a second mandate as FIBA Europe President on Saturday in Munich, Germany at the 2006 General Assembly. Vassilakopoulos was the only candidate after Sarunas Marciulionis

NZL - BP paces upset

AUCKLAND (NBL) - Forward Brendon Polyblank helped St Laurence Wellington Saints boost their National Basketball League semifinal chances with an 83-80 upset of NBS Nelson Giants in Nelson. Polyblank led all

USA - Marion, Suns eclipse

NEW YORK (NBA) - Shawn Marion is in Team USA's 23-strong preliminary squad for the FIBA World Championship. His performance for the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday suggests the Americans had better take

NGR - ABU Coach, Akuboh laud

LAGOS (Bigman Camp '06) - The 2006 Nigeria Bigman camp for kids between ages 15 and 19 and 6 foot, 8 inches and above ended last weekend in Lagos, Nigeria with one of the coach that participated in the week long event, Michael Akuboh

CZE - Zidek ready to pass on experience

PRAGUE (FIBA) - Jiri Zidek was an NCAA champion at UCLA a decade ago and graduated to the NBA, so it's little wonder he draws plenty of stares and hellos when he returns home to the Czech Republic.He gets that look. People's eyes light up, as they did at the Euroleague Final Four when big Zidek entered the Sazka Arena. It's respect

CAN - Be One all-canadian weekend

HAMILTON (Be One Program) The Be One All-Canadian Weekend concluded Sunday with a pair of All-Star Games at McMaster University in Hamilton. The weekend celebrated and rewarded the accomplishments of

PUR - Top two make stuttering start

SAN JUAN (BSN) - Brujos from Guayama and Leones from Ponce have both suffered defeats in their opening two games in the second stage of Puerto Rico's BSN league.The sides that finished first and second, respectively, in the first phase both went down to the teams that finished eighth and seventh.Last year's runners-up Vaqueros from Bayamon first saw off Brujos 95-71, Norman Nolan top-scoring with

NED - Basketball clinics at school

AMSTERDAM (World Championships Wheelchair Basketball) - In the forthcoming days, while coming closer to the Gold Cup 2006 tournament, approximately 1900 students of 29 schools (primary and secondary schools) in the city of Amsterdam

ESP - Navarro is number Juan

BARCELONA (ACB) - Winterthur Barcelona's Juan Carlos Navarro will travel to the FIBA World Championship supremely confident after being named by the league's coaches as the most valuable player in the

SEN - SEED Academy to host

DAKAR (Coaching/Development) - SEED Foundation (Sports for Education and Economic Development) is proud to support the first annual SEED Academy Hoop Forum presented by Nike. The Hoop Forum will run from

KEN - Nairobi names final

NAIROBI (East and Central Africa Inter Cities championbships) - Nairobi have named the final men and women's team for the East and Central Africa Inter Cities championbships that starts in Kampala, Uganda on Wednesday

PAN - Panama to take part in COPA

PANAMA CITY (FIBA World Championship) - Panama's preparations for the Centrobasket and FIBA World Championship later this year will include a visit to Puerto Rico for the COPA Airlines Cup

NZL - Near enough,

AUCKLAND (NBL) - Gordy McLeod (pictured) has worked overtime - literally and with mixed success - to achieve chemistry among his St Laurence Wellington Saints and hopes a unique South Island swing will

USA - Varejao to the rescue

NEW YORK (NBA) - Brazil are counting on Anderson Varejao to help them reach the podium at the FIBA World Championship this summer. The power forward's performances for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the

NGR - Delta record first

LAGOS (Vmobile Premier league) - Delta Force basketball club of Asaba last Friday at the Sports Hall of the Asaba Township Stadium recorded its first ever victory in the six-week old Vmobile premier league with a

USA - Six collegiate

COLORADO SPRINGS (FIBA Americas U18 Championship) - The USA Basketball Men's Collegiate Committee, chaired by Syracuse University's head coach Jim Boeheim, has selected Ron Cottrell, Mike Dunlap, James Jones, Scott Gernander, Bruce Weber and Reggie Witherspoon as court coaches

BIZ - Crowd trouble ends

BELIZE CITY (Friendly) - A "friendly" basketball game between El Salvador and Belize has had to be abandoned because of a crowd disturbance. The crowd trouble began with El Salvador winning 79-69, after a tussle between the players had developed on the court

AUS - Goorjian Douses

SYDNEY (FIBA World Championship) - Australian National Team coach Brian Goorjian has taken the unusual step of downplaying expectations for the Boomers in the upcoming FIBA world championship. Following former

CHI - Star show from Evandro

CONCEPCION (Centro-Sur) - Chile international Evandro Arteaga was on fire as Universidad de Concepcion maintained their 100% start to the domestic Centro-Sur league