February 08, 2012
Barcelona meets showtime tonight
Euroleague Basketball American Tour '08If they awarded basketball points for frequent flyer miles, Regal F.C. Barcelona could begin its Euroleague Basketball American Tour '08The Euroleague Basketball American Tour '08 continues with a marquee exhibition matchup full of great story lines on Saturday night in Los Angeles, California. Euroleague powerhouse Regal F.C. Barcelona takes on the hometown Lakers at the Staples Center in what will be a reunion of sorts for the visitors and their former player, Pau Gasol. It will be the Lakers' first preseason home game in front of their devoted fans since they returned to the NBA elite with a trip to finals last spring. For Gasol, the game will have plenty of emotion since he will be playing against his best friend, Juan Carlos Navarro, who returned from the NBA to Barcelona over the summer. The two won an Olympics silver medal this summer while Gasol's teammate with the Lakers, superstar Kobe Bryant, took the gold from them with the United States national team.
Juan Carlos Navarro - Regal FC Barcelona
The talk around the Toyota Sports Center, where both teams practiced on Friday, was how a matchup between two huge names in the world of sports, Barcelona and the Lakers, shows again that the global game of basketball keeps growing.

"Good and great players still go back to Europe and get good contracts and have a chance to play there, making their leagues more competitive and interesting for the fans," Gasol said. "And it's also good that international players are coming here and making names for themselves and playing well representing their countries here. It's a global game, a very international game, and I think it's improving and growing in every part of the world."

Gasol may have surprised his visitors by saying on the Lakers webpage that when his NBA days are over, he would like to return to Barcelona to finish his career. "It would be nice to finish where I started," he said.

Gasol took a few of the Barcelona players out to dinner after they arrived and practiced on Thursday - "They were tired from the trip, so I had to give them a little action," he said - but make no mistake that he plans to take it to his old team on Saturday. "I'm motivated to play hard and maybe play a few more minutes," Gasol said. "There's certainly a little more motivation than a regular preseason game for me."

Nobody had to tell Navarro that his best friend was going to be just as motivated as Barcelona's players are.

"To play against him is always an extra motivation, and we'll try to make it difficult on them," Navarro said. "I know him and I know that he, too, is very motivated for this game."

Among the firsts to be marked tonight, this is the first game by a Spanish ACB League team against an NBA opponent in the United States. It is also the first time that Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant plays against a European club, something he said Friday he knew would come sooner or later.

"Basketball has truly become a global sport, and because of that you see tremendous talent growing overseas," Bryant said. "The thing that jumps out is their versatilty. If you look at guys that have come into our league from Europe - be it Mehmet Okur, Pau Gasol, Vlade Divac or Toni Kukoc - the thing is that even at their size, they can handle the ball, pass the ball and shoot the ball. They can pretty much do everything on the floor, so it's their versatility that stands out."

Regal F.C. Barcelona at practice in Los AngelesHow competitive Barcelona can be after travelling so much this week is one question going into the game. CSKA Moscow made a similar trip to start the Euroleague Basketball American Tour '08 and could not get any rhythm in the first game, losing at Orlando by 94-66. Four days later, however, CSKA were ahead of the Toronto Raptors through most of three quarters before dropping an entertaining 86-78 result. Barcelona is aware of the possibility that jet-lag could be a factor, and structured its schedule here accordingly. With their roster looking deep and healthy, the visitors are hoping that the adrenaline rush of stepping on-court against the Lakers at the Staple Center will overcome any of their own tiredness.

"We're really excited because we'll be playing against great players and it's a good chance to show our game and demonstrate where European basketball is at," forward Ersal Ilyasova said. "It won't be easy to play against a great team in their huge NBA arena, but we'll try to do our maximum to win and show to the fans what we're capable of."

There is also the surprise factor, as Lakers head coach Phil Jackson recognized.

"Most of these games turn out to be very difficul because there's not a whole lot of knoweldge of the other team either way," Jackson said. "Europeans tend to shoot the ball well from all over the court, too, so it should be a very interesting game."
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Euroleague.net
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