(Nelson voice) Ha ha! Yeah, yeah, it's the preseason, blah blah blah. But the Lakers clearly wanted this: Gasol, Artest and Odom played pretty big minutes, and Bryant came in at the end to try to close it out. (Bricked several long threes, got thrown a bone by the refs a couple of times.) Navarro and Mikeal looked awesome. Rubio got very little burn. Time to REALLY work on that jump shot. Blake looked bad, Fisher looked good. Some really fancy team passing by Barca, and one sequence where Artest decided he was going to lock down Navarro so was taking all kind of swipes at him: Navarro just gave him a funny look and drilled a three in his face.
The more is see Rubio the less I like him as an NBA prospect. Ask Sergio how no-look/high-risk passes work against an NBA defense.
That was one of Rubio's worst games I've ever seen. Seriously, Blake and Fisher looked like world beaters against him.
This isn't really a big deal. Look at the European soccer clubs that come over and play massively inferior MLS squads and lose in their preseason. Same thing roughly, except Barcelona is probably closer to the NBA squads than MLS clubs are to major European soccer giants.
Has a Euro team ever won against an NBA team? I don't think it has happened, let alone against the defending champs.
Happened several times. To the best of my knowledge, the only time it actually happened in North America was when Macabi Tel-Aviv won against Toronto in Toronto 3 or 4 years ago. It was also probably the game that brought Anthony Parker back to the NBA. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2193339 But overseas - happened more than once. As for winning against the defending champs - also happened when Macabi Tel Aviv won against the Washington Bullets. "The first basketball game between an NBA and a FIBA team was held in 1978 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Maccabi Tel Aviv beat the defending NBA champion Washington Bullets 98-97." http://www.maccabi.co.il/data10.asp?id=164&language=english
Yeah, I was about to bring up that Toronto game before you brought it up. Toronto got beat at its own game, the European style ball.
It puzzles me when haters like yall call the Lakers fakers. What is so fake about 16 championships and 5 championships in the last 11 years. Any ways I don't give a shit we lost because it is a meaningless preseason game. After Oden gets injured again yall will choke in the 1st round again.
