Here we are, ready to start the second half of the Top 16, and for those of us at Khimki Moscow Region, it's a very exciting time. We are working towards a new goal these days, the Euroleague playoffs, and we know that we have an opportunity to reach it as soon as Thursday when we play Caja Laboral again, just as we did two weeks ago. We have to approach this opportunity with full respect for our opponent. Of course, I think of them as Tau Ceramica, after playing them for so many years in Spain, but by any name, their club has been one of the best in Europe during this decade, making it to the Final Four an incredible four years in a row before they lost in the fifth game of the playoffs last season. If there is one thing that the Top 16 teaches, it's that no team can safely disrespect any other, not when those other teams have already done what it takes to make it to this stage. That was always true, of course, but anyone who doubted it before cannot do so any longer after what has happened in the first three games of this Top 16.

Just look at it this way: there is a possibility this week that both Panathinaikos and Caja Laboral will be eliminated after just four games of the Top 16. No one would have thought that was possible at the beginning of the round, let alone before the season started. It would have been unthinkable, in fact. But it's not unthinkable now. The truth is that there is great parity in the... more

Greetings from Moscow, Euroleague fans. You don't need me to tell you, but I will anyway: it's a long way from Malaga to Moscow! Or to be more precise, from Marbella, where I grew up, to Moscow Region, where I now play for Khimki, one of the new teams in the Euroleague this season. I have been here for almost a month, and for sure it's a different lifestyle from where I grew up. But I also think that's the case wherever you go if, like I did, you spent your whole career in one place, the same place you grew up. For that reason, I can say that here in Russia, I am more focused on family and the team, training and maybe spending more time at home. It goes without saying that it's a lot colder here, even in October, so you might not go out as much because of the weather, first of all. It's a very big country, very big capital area, but most of all very interesting, with great places to visit, great shopping. Moscow really has everything. We are enjoying ourselves already, and we know we have a lot more to see!

As you might know, Raul Lopez and I came here as a package from Spain, both point guards, both from the Spanish national team, and both of us played before for Sergio Scariolo, our coach here. We don't live in the same building - about five minutes apart - and to get to practice, it takes us about 20 minutes without traffic. Of course, traffic here can be an odyssey, so we have to be careful. But in general we have good connections to the arena and the city center, so on weekends, and sometimes at night after we play, when there's less traffic, we can go to the city center and have a look around. Especially on the weekends we've been able to see things, go to a football game, and just notice that the people are very ‘tranquilo’... more