As part of the TBL all-star festivities, there was of course the all-important dunk contest. In this one, Doğuş Balbay took the top prize for easily clearing Anadolu Efes teammate/2010 dunking champ Sinan Güler for the jam – and then again for good measure. That dude, as they say, ‘s got some hops.

Jonathan Gibson, formerly of New Mexico State University and currently with TBL all-star hosts Trabzonspor won the three-point shootout and later suited up for the foreigners’ team.

And o yes, there were cheerleaders…

• This game was quite the textbook example of the 13th man’s value to Kazan, as the second half was all Unics riding the home support after a disastrous second quarter.

• What was the deal with the Unics bench? Is coach Evgeny Pashutin simply unwilling to go seven deep with this side? Pashutin looked to be running his preferred quintet into the ground as Nathan Jawai, in for about 11 minutes, proved the only viable substitute for the Russian team last night. Terrell Lyday, Vladimir Veremeenko, Petr Samoylenko, Henry Domercant, and Mike Wilkinson all went for 28 minutes or more to score 68 of the team’s 76 points. Yes, Jawai had the other eight.

BiE gut feeling questioned why Lynn Greer got 10½ minutes of playing time and Kelly McCarty only saw 7½ despite neither looking particularly sharp.

On the other hand, maybe Pashutin is simply doing the clever “small market” thing; minutes appear to be well evenly distributed in Kazan’s PBL play and a bit less so in VTB United League games. Last Sunday, Kazan hosted VEF Riga; with a VTB game on Saturday vs. Minsk 2006 and possibly in Russia on Sunday vs. BC Khimki Moscow region, Pashutin is probably applying the soccer coach mentality and leaving a few top-tier players with energy to play in less crucial games. They’ll have to rely on an assist from that no. 13 again, with the four games in seven days; thus far, Unics is 2-0 in the homestand.

• And, of course, Bostjan Nachbar is not yet aboard. Strange that while statistically the battle for the boards was nearly dead even at 33 for Fenerbahçe and 32 for Unics, empirically the latter appeared to kill the former on the glass. With four, Veremeenko was the only Kazan player to notch more than one offensive board – a situation that should improve with Nachbar aboard – though the Russian side won anyway…

• Playing without the injured Roko Ukic (and Mirsad Turkcan suiting up but taking a DNP) seemingly put Fenerbahçe at a disadvantage outside going into the match, but the unexpected emerged: Bojan Bogdanovic and Omer Onan teed off to go a combined 7-of-9 on threes, while the team shot 50% overall beyond the arc.

And yet … the Fenerbahçe frontcourt was beaten badly and consistently in the second half. Oguz Savas, Gasper Vidmar and Emir Preldzic were harassed by foul trouble – the latter two throughout the game – and saw limited playing time.

• Incidentally, Bogdanovic was high scorer in the game with 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, getting particularly brilliant in the second while scoring from everywhere to contribute 13 during his team’s unanswered 15-point run. How badly do you want this guy in the ‘States, Nets fans?

• True as ever is the European basketball fan’s answer to his/her NBA counterpart who scoffs as the lower number of games played on the Continent: “Yes, but in Europe nearly every game matters as opposed to meaningless games in April in America.” Unics Kazan now sits atop Group G at 1-0, while Fenerbahçe Ülker has dug itself a “hole” at 0-1 … and already the complexion of the Top 16 has changed.

As a tweet from Mensah-Bonsu’s former club CSKA Moscow rhetorically asks, “How does he score?”

Morrison began his 2011-12 season with Red Star Belgrade (a.k.a. Crvena Zvezda Beograd), with whom he notably achieved a 15.5 ppg average on just under 48% overall shooting in Adriatic League play – highlighted by his 30-point explosion against Union Olimpija – while winning over Red Star fans’ hearts.

No video appears readily available for post at the present moment, but below runs a recent upload from YouTube user CosmicEgg88 reminding us that Seattle is still pining for Morrison – and professional basketball for that matter…

At 11-4, Beşiktaş is currently in a statistical tie with Banvit BK in second place on the TBL table, ahead of Euroleague teams Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe Ülker. Morrison and the Eagles next play in Russia against BC Nizhny Novgorod in a FIBA Eurochallenge game on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Spain to take on Fuenlabrada, and finally the former Bobcat will make his new home debut against Türk Telekom Ankara after the TBL all-star break on Saturday, January 28.

Asik: Making Divac look like an understudy

Namely, the following. Below the break, check out Kyle Korver and Team Turkey’s Omer Asik making Vlade Divac look like a second-division Nemzeti Bajnokság II player with utterly unconvincing collapses that – to the referees’ credit – were not whistled for offensive fouls.

The Windy City, indeed. Or as France-based BasketUSA put it, “A Chicago, on tombe comme des mouches” (“In Chicago, they’re dropping like flies”).

Okay, so BallinEurope wouldn’t go that far; after all, we’re talking about a player of retired-jersey status here. Regardless, Beşiktaş Milangaz began the post-Deron Williams Era with a 77-75 win at Armia in FIBA Eurochallenge play, thanks to a David Hawkins jumper in the waning seconds…

Official FIBA writeup follows.

(FIBA Europe) – Beşiktaş Milangaz completed a two-game sweep of Armia on Tuesday to clinch first place in EuroChallenge Group B, as David Hawkins hit a jump shot one second before the end to lift Beşiktaş to a 77-75 win in Tbilisi.

Armia were able to get the ball to recent signing Matthew Freije before time expired but his three-pointer was off target.

Jeremy Richardson nearly lifted Armia to victory. After Hawkins’ two free throws with 1:16 remaining, Richardson caught a pass from new Armia guard Ben Woodside and drilled a jump shot to knot the game at 73-73.

Hawkins dunked with 40 seconds to go to put the visitors back in front, only for Richardson, after an Armia timeout, to reply with a jumper. Beşiktaş ran the clock down to 10 seconds and then called a timeout. When play resumed, Hawkins got the ball in his hands and hit the game-winning shot.

Beşiktaş outscored Armia 27-19 in the last quarter.

The EuroChallenge Player of the Week in the last round, Erwin Dudley (a.k.a. Ersin Dagli), will contend for that honor again as he had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Beşiktaş. Hawkins finished with 17 points and Serhat Cetin contributed 16.

Zoran Erceg also had a strong game with 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for Beşiktaş; his biggest shot came with 1:45 to go, a three-ball that tied the contest at 71-71.

Joakim Kjellbom scored 17 points and corralled 13 rebounds for Armia, and Will Thomas had 15 points and eight boards. Richardson also had 15 points and Woodside 13, along with seven assists.

With the win, the Turkish club improved to 5-0 and Armia fell to 3-2. Should ZZ Leiden prevail in their game against BG Göttingen Wednesday, the Dutch side will host a decisive clash with Armia next week to determine the second-place team in Group B. Armia won their encounter on November 22, 74-71, so Leiden would be aiming for a win of four points or more to claim the second spot.

A number of reports in recent days had the Beşiktaş search linked with names like Kevin Love, Luol Deng, Lamar Odom, Nene and Marcin Gortat, but Lopez made for reportedly a somewhat less expensive option than Odom or Gortat, for example.

Lopez went for 20.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game with the New Jersey Nets last season.

And if you’re keeping score at home, the refugees from Nets land playing in Europe increases: After Williams and (prospectively) Lopez, there are Jordan Farmar (with Maccabi Tel Aviv), Sasha Vujacic (Anadolu Efes), Mario West (Scaligera Basket Verona), Sundiata Gaines (BC Armia) and Bojan Bogdanovic (Fenerbahçe Ülker; and okay, BiE realizes Bogdanovic isn’t technically a refugee, but he may be a Net someday).

[Update: Talk Basket is running a list of all players with point totals of 36 or more in a Eurochallenge game since the league was formed in 2003. As it turns out, the all-time high to this point was 39, a mark shared by Fernando San Emeterio, then of CB Girona, and Svendborg Rabbits' Johnell Smith. Williams has, no matter how the NBA lockout turns out, left a mark on European basketball that will remain for quite some time, it seems.]

Göttingen simply had no answers for the New Jersey Net, allowing him to go 17-of-23 from the floor, including a 7-of-10 performance on three-pointers; stated the German side’s coach Stefan Mienack in the post-game: “We played against one of the elite teams of Europe. They’re absolute contenders for the title and they have great players. It’s so hard to win agaınst a team in which Deron Wıllıams plays for.”

Check out the video below for a highlight clip stuff with Williams’ relentless attacking; the Violets’ backcourt of Dale Lewis, Kyle Bailey, Paris Horne et al will certainly be suffering nightmares for months. Official FIBA writeup follows the clip.

(FIBA Europe) – Deron Williams exploded for 50 points on Tuesday in Istanbul and Besiktas Milangaz needed every one of them in a 105-94 EuroChallenge victory over BG Göttingen.

The point guard, one of the first NBA players to move to Europe during the NBA lockout, made 17 of his 23 shots from the floor. Included in that were seven of 10 makes from three-point range.

Göttingen, who have been struggling this season, trailed 91-90 after their 23-year-old point guard Louis Dale buried a shot from the arc with 2:14 to go.

Williams went to the other end, though, and with the 24-shot clock winding down answered with a three-pointer. Then with Besiktas on top 95-90 and 1:10 remaining, Williams struck again from the arc before going in for a layup on his team’s next possession for a 100-90 lead.

The USA Olympic gold medal winner reached the 50-point plateau with a layup on a fast break just 13 seconds from the end.

The most points ever scored by Williams in the NBA came in a 2010 when he played for the Utah Jazz against the Oklahoma City Thunder and poured in 42.

David Hawkins finished with 23 points for Besiktas, who improved to 3-0 in Eurochallenge Group B.
Raymond Sykes led the Violets with 25 points and Kyle Bailey had 19. The German club fell to 0-3 with the defeat.

“Odom turned 32 earlier this month and is considering whether to accept the proposal,” states the ESPN article, which also informs that Beşiktaş officials had been chasing the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love and the Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng. Love formally declined an offer on the weekend, telling media that “I didn’t feel it was the right decision for me at this time.”

Beşiktaş is reportedly also looking into signing free agent Nene or Team Poland/Phoenix Suns big man Marcin Gortat; Gortat is described as “highly interested” in getting with the Turkish team.

But if Odom signs up? BiE’s already imagining the reality TV program…

Beşiktaş Milangaz cruised past Armia in game two of FIBA Eurochallenge play as Williams was good for 31 points, including 5-of-9 shooting on threes, and six assists in the 103-82 win. Nets fans might also note that their theoretical player Sundiata Gaines turned in a nice eight-assist, three-steal performance for Armia.

The usual suspects were once behind Williams in victory: Semih Erden put in 20 points, grabbed three rebounds and snatched three steals; David Hawkins was good for 17 points and three steals; and Marcelus Kemp contributed 19 points and five rebounds.

Since bowing out in the Eurocup Qualifying Round, Besiktas has gone undefeated: The Eagles are 5-0 in TBL play and 2-0 in Eurochallenge. But don’t tell coach Ergin Ataman. Said he to media in the post-game, “I don’t know how many wins we have now. I’ll let you do the counting.”