BallinEurope, the European Basketball news site

Congratulations go out from BallinEurope to Team France leader Tony Parker, who wrote himself into the NBA record books by becoming the San Antonio Spurs’ all-time leader in assists yesterday – o, and he also went for 42 points in his team’s 107-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Parker eclipsed Avery Johnson’s mark of 4,476 in the third quarter with his final assist of the game.

Below runs a clip of the record-breaker itself, a feed to who else but Tim Duncan; a full run of game highlights may be seen here.

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Hey, look, it’s a Christmas card from Nando de Colo via BallinEurope’s man in Italy, Enrico Cellini! Enjoy and happy holidays!

With few seconds on the clock, French combo guard Nando “Aladdin” de Colo is the man that Valencia fans want to see handling the ball. Check out the acrobatic fashion by which he knocked down a half-court shot against Bilbao Basket just two weeks ago (too bad it didn’t count).

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What’s the difference between American and European dunk contests? The preparation! Check out this LNB-produced video of former New Mexico Thunderbird/current Aix-Maurienne player Dar Tucker, who could achieve a rare double championship on December 30 when the French league’s all-star festivities go down. Early this year, Tucker repeated as champion of the NBA D-League dunk contest with the winning jam posted below; BallinEurope suspects this baller may be enjoying the French style vis-a-vis “prépare le concours de dunks…”

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Courtesy BC.Rytas.lt and Balltime.net, below run the video highlights of last night’s Eurocup match between Lietuvos Rytas and Le Mans Sarthe. That is all.

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Kevin Harley, who France-based Basket Europe acknowledges as a “future star du basket français,” is currently playing with Poitiers’ junior team, where he’s earning a reputation as quite the high-flier.

Check out the below video for Harley on a breakaway jam, reaching a stratospheric height to slam home an easy two – and then check out the gray hair-inducing manner in which he falls to Earth like Icarus. Luckily, notes Basket Europe, Harley was “more frightened than hurt” and was able to finish the game.

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Here’s more fuel for the fire vis-à-vis American players in Europe: Re-imports Tony Parker and Ronny Turiaf were notables in last night’s Eurocup opening night for Asvel Villeurbanne as the French side overcame 2009-10 champion Valencia Basket.

Whoever questions NBA stars’ ability to adapt to the European game may see Parker’s performance of last night to be a partial answer: The locked-out San Antonio Spur essentially iced EuroCup Player of the Week honors in scoring 34 points for Asvel, including 13 in his team’s high-flying 29-point fourth quarter. Parker also dished five assists and added one steal to his stat line.

Meanwhile, Ronny Turiaf came off the bench to become one of Asvel’s five double-digit scorers, contributing 12 points and five rebounds over 25 minutes in the win.

Official game writeup follows the break.

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Happy 10th birthday, Eurocup! The Continent’s no. 2 club competition will tip off season no. 10 tonight with seven matches, definitely highlighted by the showdown between Tony Parker’s Asvel Villeurbanne against a Valencia Basket side bringing in a lineup which includes Victor Claver and A.J. Ogilvy – not to mention Team France’s Nando de Colo and Florent Pietrus.

Official press release on the giddy night and highlight video from last year’s Unics Kazan-Cajasol final runs below the break.

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For those of you wondering about Ronny Turiaf’s debut with Asvel Basket, well, it was a bit of a mixed bag of results on Sunday. After resolving insurance issues, the locked-out New York Knick started for Asvel as Tony Parker’s side hosted defending LNB champions/ Euroleague team SLUC Nancy.

Turiaf looked good enough in his first game since injuring his hand in a friendly match leading up to the 2011 EuroBasket tournament, going for nine points (including one effusive dunk early on; see below Asvel-based YouTube clip), eight rebounds (four offensive), three assists and five fouls drawn in 25 minutes of court time.

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This just in. Chandler Parsons has decided to leave Cholet Basket, tweeting just about an hour ago, “Thank you to Cholet for the opportunity to play during the lockout. It was a great experience that I’ll never forget. Back home tomorrow!”

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What’s that? You want some Tony Parker videos? Right … in Saturday’s game at Cholet Basket, Parker put in what the league’s official website is calling a “decisive” performance for Asvel Villeurbanne. The locked-out San Antonio Spur went for 19 points, including nine in the fourth quarter in the Asvel victory. The final score: Asvel 79, Cholet 70. Décisif, bien sûr!

Parker’s first public appearance at the Angers-Loire airport was naturally YouTube-worthy … would you believe screaming girls…?

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