Yesterday Spain defeated France at the Eurobasket 2011 tournament 98-85 to take gold and reserve their spot at the London games.

Although France was dotted with solid players, Spain's huge advantage was size. The tandem of Pau and Marc Gasol manned the paint but it was the huge defensive effort by Thunder's Serge Ibaka which sent a message to France.

And his message to France was do not even think about getting easy shots at the rim.

Check out Ibaka with an impressive five blocks in four minutes.

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Our series on the four jerseys fans of every NBA team continues today.  It's Southwest Division week, and today we're focusing on the Dallas Mavericks.  Remember, we're not just going to list off four popular players in team history.  We know that when you're wearing a jersey, you're going for a "look."  So every day we're going to tell you the jersey you've got to have, the jersey you can't go wrong with (in case you can't find the first one), the jersey that will make people say "Oh, that's awesome," and the joke jersey that will have everyone laughing.

For 30 seasons, The Mavericks were either "good, but not good enough" or just flat out terrible.  They had a nice run in the mid-80's to become a high-scoring playoff team.  From 1991 to 1999, the best the Mavs could do manage was a 36 win season.  After that, the Mavs had some amazing regular season runs, but those also included a first-round exit after a 67 win season.  

None of that matters now, though.  The Mavs broke through in season #31 to bring home their first championship.  With that, Mavs fans can hold their heads high as the burden of past disappointments is finally lifted.  A championship changes a lot, including the four jerseys fans gotta have.

Gotta Have:

Dirk Nowitzki -- This might have been up for a little debate before the title.  For some, Dirk was the face of yet another frustratingly close Mavs team.  But this postseason run changed all that.  Dirk put on some epic shooting performances and took over when his team needed him most.  He's the team's all-time leader in points, rebounds, and 3's made.  #41 is a Maverick for life, which we all know is rare.  And bringing a title to Dallas solidifies him as the #1 player in Mavs history.  If you don't have his jersey yet, get it now.

Can't Go Wrong With: 

Rolando Blackman -- Before Dirk came along, Blackman was the franchise's leading scorer.  Rolando was the key guy on the first wave of good Mavs teams, and he still calls Dallas Home (when he's not coaching overseas).  He's one of Dallas' first great players, which is why his #22 hangs in the rafters.  It should also hang in your closet.

"Oh, That's Cool":

Derek Harper -- I have to admit, the first thing that jumps into my head when I hear "Derek Harper" is "NBA Jam"... which makes this pick cool enough.  Harper was known more for his defensive abilities (he's the Mavs' all-time leader in steals with 1551, Dirk is second with 884) but he's also Dallas' 4th all time leading scorer.  Rocking a #12 is a cool nod to one of Dallas' greats

"Oh, That's Funny":

Shawn Bradley -- Bradley's Dallas' career leader in blocked shots, but at 7'6", I would hope that in 9 years you would be.  A more accurate sign of just how ineffective Bradley was would be the fact that in 9 years with Dallas, he couldn't grab more rebounds than Sam Perkins did in 6 years with Dallas (3340 to 3767).  Really, Shawn Bradley's lasting legacy was getting dunked on.  A lot.  So much that there's a top 10 highlights of dunks on Bradley (#1 is an assortment of Shaq posters).  And that list doesn't even include TMac catching him.  So honor the art of the posterization by pulling on a #44 and standing next to someone who's about to do something awesome.  

There you have it.  The four jerseys Mavericks fans have got to have.  Disagree with us?  Let us know who we missed in the comments.

Atlantic Division:  Boston, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto

Central Division:  Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee

Southeast Division:  Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Miami, Washington

Pacific Division:  Golden State, LA Clippers, LA Lakers, Phoenix, Sacramento

Northwest Division:  Denver, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Portland, Utah

Tomorrow:  Houston

Jeff Garcia collaborated on this post

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I was hanging out at Impact Basketball early Sunday afternoon watching Philadelphia 76ers' big man Maresse Speights finish up his individual training session at the facility when Rudy Gay came rolling in wearing a Memphis Grizzlies baseball hat, so I figured I'd stay and watch his too.  I had that image of Gay with a shoulder brace on over his suit, sidelined during this past postseason in my head, and I wanted to get an idea of about how hard he could go at this point.  Below is some video I shot while I was watching:

For a little over two hours, alongside Detroit Piston Austin Daye, Rudy went way harder than I expected he could at this point.  He had surgery in late March to repair a left shoulder subluxation he injured in a February 15th game against the Philly, and he appears to be doing everything he can to be back with the Grizzlies whenever day one of the regular season eventually does find itself scheduled. 

I asked Rudy how his rehab is coming along on the way out, and this is what he told me: 

“I feel good man, real good. I’m just trying to go real hard, trying to test it [his left shoulder], and just get myself all the way back and cleared [medically] by the start of the season.  But everything’s been going real good."

It would seem things could go real good for the Grizzles too if Gay ends up back in a rotation that went to Game Seven of the Second Round last season too.  They really could be pretty nasty with Gay, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, OJ Mayo, and an improving Mike Conley, but we'll have to wait until after these labor negotiations get settled to find out.

If you happen to be a guy who might be interested in wagering on that sort of thing, Vegas currently has the Grizzlies as a 30 to 1 shot to win the title.  I was thinking about droping an Alexander Hamilton on that before I fly out of here on the chance it pays out three Franklin's, but I'm still waiting to see if my Crossover Chronicles raise application goes through before I commit.

Video: CrossoverChronicles

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Now that the Olympic qualifiers are over, finding pro-basketball is going to be scarce. Fortunately, the Vegas Impact League is marching on giving NBA fans a healthy dose of highlights.

Though billed a a training series, the players at the league have been putting on a show and week one was no exception.

Check out highlights of players such as David Lee, Josh Selby, John Wall, JJ Hickson, Austin Daye, Tony Allen and more including Iman Shumpert displaying some nice dunks.

Tuesday and Wednesday were big days in the world of the NBA lockout. It seemed like the two sides were making progress in small meetings last week, but it was going to be the meetings with the larger negotiation groups that would tell us a lot. There seemed to be some progress as reported the split of basketball-related income is nearing a resolution.

The test though was getting everyone in the larger groups to agree. Both the players and the owners have professed their unity, but there are undoubtedly some cracks as each group has different interests -- as there would be with any group.

Then some crazy news broke that shook the confidence of NBA fans and may have thrown a wrench into starting the season on time.

Dave McMenamin and Tim McMahon of ESPN were the first to report that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Suns owner Robert Sarver were leading a push from owners to continue insisting a hard salary cap, believed to be the biggest sticking point remaining in negotiations. Nobody knows what this reported exchange could mean, but it revealed what we all suspected -- the owners have some house cleaning to do... hopefully they did it in the NBA board of governors meeting in Dallas on Thursday.

"Owners were seriously considering coming off of their demand for a salary freeze and would allow players' future earnings to be tied into the league's revenue growth, a critical point for players," McMenamin and McMahon reported. "The owners also were willing to allow the players to maintain their current salaries, without rollbacks, sources said.

"But when the owners left the players to meet among themselves for around three hours, Cleveland's Dan Gilbert and Phoenix's Robert Sarver expressed their dissatisfaction with many of the points, sources said. The sources said that the Knicks' James Dolan and the Lakers' Jerry Buss were visibly annoyed by the hardline demands of Gilbert and Sarver."

Why would Sarver and Gilbert be leading this push? What do they have to gain from insisting on a hard cap?

Cleveland and Phoenix are not generally thought of as small markets. The Suns and Cavaliers have access to relatively large markets and have solid fan bases. These are not the poster children for teams that need the relief that allegedly will come from instituting a hard salary cap.

So what are these two owners trying to protect themselves from?

NSFW language in video

World Star Hip Hop stepped into DeShawn Stevenson's house, and into his studio to reveal a "Wall of Fame" tribute to his favorite rappers as well as a huge mural of himself, his wife and his kids.  

Prepare yourself for an eight minute experience that ends with him asking everyone to sign his wall by their airbrushed mural... including asking LeBron James to come sign his airbrushed Larry O'Brien trophy because "that's how close he's gonna get to it."

To skip ahead to the LeBron diss, head to the 7:45 mark.  

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We've all heard about athletes with shoe addictions before, but it appears Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson takes the cake.

Not too long ago I saw a YouTube video of Spurs draftee Ryan Richards showing off his sneaker collection of about 60 pairs of shoes all stacked up and against a wall.

I consider myself to be a bit of a shoe junkie, with about 20 pairs of shoes lining the shelves of my closet, but my 20 and Richards' 60 pale in comparison to Johnson's collection.

And to display his 436 pairs of sneakers, neither a small closet or stacking them against a wall would suffice, so according to ESPN the Magazine, Johnson had a 500 square foot shoe "vault" constructed.

"I wanted to display all of my shoes, so I had this 500-square-foot closet made. I just thought this would be a cool idea, and it would almost look like a museum. I had a fingerprint sensor put on the door to make sure I'm the only one who can get in here. I mostly wear Air Jordans. All of the Jordan guys are selected by Michael Jordan himself. It's kind of hard to tell MJ no. I have 436 pairs of sneakers in here, and they're mostly unworn. I'll wear all of them eventually."

Let's think about this for a moment. 500 square feet? I've rented apartments that size before, and I've seen several studio apartments smaller than that. With that kind of space, I wonder if Johnson's shoe closet has it's own live-in shoe shine guy?

It's also interesting that while players are selling cars and signing contracts to play overseas to retain stability when they aren't receiving NBA checks, Johnson is constructing a shoe closet.

I guess Johnson signing an unthinkable six year contract worth $119 million last offseason gives him some added flexibility and let's face it, he probably had some cash burning a hole in his pocket that he just found a creative way to spend.

There was no report on whether Johnson let out a high-pitched scream when he walked into his shoe closet for the first time.

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With the name-change being official, it's unofficially Metta World Peace day today at Crossover Chronicles!  What that means, I actually have no idea, except for the strange sensation I'm getting to sit crosslegged on my patio and start singing kumbaya.  We have one person to thank for this impromptu celebration of harmony though, and that is the man formerly known as Ron Artest.  Maybe it's just me, but I find it ironic that the man most associated with perhaps the most violent episode in NBA history would officially change his name today to Metta World Peace.  

(I can just picture Marv Albert now... and now here's World Peace, it counts... AND THE FOUL!  Metta.  World.  Peace... with the lay-in.)

So to celebrate the latest and most bizarre step in Ron Artest Metta's transformation, we're going to remember the best and weirdest moments in his career because hey, at least he's doing something to promote World Peace.  Let's take a walk down a smiling and singing (and slightly fuzzy) memory lane...

First, let's hear from Metta about the name change from the most normal source imaginable, TMZ.  When you listen to MWP's reasoning for the name change, it makes a lot of sense.  I think...



I wish he would have gone with One Love World Peace, but give the man credit for wantiing to make us work to find out what "Metta" actually means.  It's all about starpower and positive energy.  We should really give Metta a little dap for giving us some good material during the lockout...

Never before have NBA players been so athletic.  Some can run fast enough to qualify as an Olympic sprinter.  Some have physiques so amazing, they could slide right onto any NFL sideline.  They are, to borrow from the popular cliche, bigger, faster and stronger than ever before. 

Action happens quickly.  Bang-bang plays happen at the hoop multiple times a game some of those blocking/charging calls are so close, even TV replays can't really tell the difference sometimes.  

So it makes total sense that a 71 year-old guy will be right there to make these game-changing calls 

Yep, Dick Bavetta, born on December 10, 1939, is still planning on returning as an NBA official next season.  

Let's put that into perspective, shall we? 

• Dick Bavetta is OLDER THAN THE NBA!  In fact, he was almost 10 years-old when the BAA and NBL decided to merge and form the NBA.  
• Dick Bavetta was born only two months after the beginning of World War 2 and was almost six years-old when the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan.
• Dick Bavetta was almost 15 years old when Kobe Bryant's father, Joe, was born.
• Dick Bavetta was 18 years old before the Boston Celtics had won any of their championships.  
• Dick Bavetta made his debut in 1975, about a week before his 36th birthday.

I've got nothing against Dick Bavetta.  I'm sure he's a nice enough guy and he's served the NBA well.  But he'll turn 72 during the season.  It's time to let it go.  The game is too fast.  The players are too big.  And even though he's in good enough shape to run around and maybe live to 100, biology is still biology.  Your reaction time still slows down with age.  And I don't want to know how much of Bavetta's officiating is just anticipation rather than what he actually sees.  

By the way, it should be mentioned that the crux of that linked article is that Steve Javie is retiring because of a knee injury.  

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New Jersey Nets' Deron Williams made huge waves throughout the NBA world when he decided to play overseas with Turkish club Besiktas for the duration of the lockout.

He was the first of many NBA players who either have made their way overseas or are contemplating making the move overseas. And now that the lockout is seemingly going to eat into the upcoming season, many other NBA players might just make the leap overseas. 

But now that Williams has joined his new team, and received a rather warm welcome, many Nets and NBA fans are wondering how he is looking in his new uniform.

Check out Williams in action against Montepaschi Sienna including some sweet moves to get into the lane.

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