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Balls-to-the-wall time!

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:26:47 GMT

OK, here we are in Nancy, one day away from our destiny, and I've got to tell you that if before the season started someone offered us the situation we're in now to reach the Top 16 - one game to win tomorrow and our two rivals playing where they are - I think we'd have signed on the dotted line. It's been like a two-tier group until now. The three teams at the top - Barcelona, Montepaschi and Panathinaikos - were fighting for the first three places. Tomorrow, those three play against the three of us trying to make the Top 16. We knew going into this it would be hard to beat those teams, but we had a goal set, to try to make the Top 16, and now we have that chance. Remember, some teams never get this kind of opportunity. But now we have that chance, Zalgiris has that chance and Prokom has that chance. One of us has to get there. It's been a fun Euroleague season all the way, and we don't want it to end. If we can upset Montepaschi tomorrow, it might be a win-and-in situation. Prokom from Poland has to play at Panathinaikos and Zalgiris has to go to Barcelona, so we think that we have a great opportunity and a great chance because we play at home. Don't get me wrong, it's going to be very hard for us as well as for Prokom and Zalgiris. We need to win, and we need them to lose, but don't forget that the big teams - except for Barcelona - are still playing for higher places, too, so all these games are going to be serious.

Speaking of fun, our last game against Zalgiris, even though we lost, was wild, people. I mean, 33 points in the last minute is something I had never seen before. And the fans in Zalgiris were incredible. I couldn't hear myself speak, that's how loud they were. It was strange because without winning, the difference wasn't going to affect us much, but they wanted to win by 15, so they were fouling constantly in the final minute. We thought that if they missed their shots, we could make ours and get closer. But then they made some big threes and after awhile we tried not to foul them any more, just to end it. It was a long, long game. We didn't get the win and they didn't get the 15-point differerence, but that Zalgiris team is a good one. The kids on that team play hard and play together. You can tell they've been with each other awhile. And even without Loren Woods, they're going to fight for sure in Barcelona. They'll never give up.

So it all comes down to one game. I still think we have the best situation of the three teams still trying to get into the Top 16. We're playing tomorrow in our gym. Tonight we will sleep in our own beds. We've got some of the greatest fans in Europe ready to help us make history. Siena is a helluva team, but this could be historical for us. It's going to be fun. This is what we play for, to have chances like this one. I can't wait. It's balls-to-the-wall time. We don't want to give up nothing easy. I doesn't do any good to say we've got to stop this or that. When the game starts, everything is moving fast. We just need to play as hard as we can, limit turnovers, get defensive rebounds and go. We can't wait until Thursday to figure it out. We've got to go out and play like chickens with our heads cut off for 40 minutes.

Nothing like the first time!

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:18:25 GMT

The last you guys heard from me, I was looking like the Elephant Man. I am looking a little better now, and feeling a lot better after our first Euroleague win last week against Zalgiris. I am really happy that it happened at home here in Nancy, because it was great for our fans to see something like that. I've been playing in France for six years now, and these fans here are by far the best I have played for in my career. They are so loyal to the guys on the team, like after the first Euroleague game here, when we got spanked by Barcelona, they were with us 150 percent, no questions asked. With loyalty like that from them to the players, it's a great place to play and it was great to give them the opportunity to see a win like the one against Zalgiris. That was for the fans, the club president, the coaches and the guys who have been here many, many years. To go into the Euroleague and get a historic win against a long-time Euroleague team like Zalgiris was really big for Nancy. The fans were going crazy after the game, we were going crazy with them, and it's just a great feeling to have fans like that, behind you no matter what. Now, we gotta see if we can surprise some other team for them.

Of course, it didn't start out so good for us. We opened the Euroleague at home against Barcelona and were down by just five points at halftime. Five minutes into the second half, it was a different story. They just opened the game up and took off on the scoreboard. But that's the Euroleague for you. Barcelona and teams like that play 40 consistent minutes. We had to learn together, as a team, that you can't play just 20 minutes well in this league. You've gotta play 40. And we're still learning it, but we're doing better. We felt good before the Zalgiris game because we knew we were getting close. We had a big road win in the French League right before Zalgiris, but we knew it was a team we had an opportunity to beat because of the way we played against Panathinaikos. We had played good against a great team. We tried to have same game against Zalgiris, knowing that if we did the same things, we would have a chance.

Still, we were 0-3 after three weeks and for some of the guys, the Euroleague games were a big change. We sat down and spoke about it, how we had tough matchups against big teams and we were already seeing that you can't make mistakes. If you make one or two, suddenly you're down 15 and 20 on the scoreboard. Some of these teams are just loaded. Barcelona has a huge team of big guys. And then comes Panathinaikos and their young center, Pekovic. He hit me once and it was like getting hit by a train. He's a big boy. I said to him, "How much you weigh?" and he said, "Too much". And he was right. The physical part of the game for me is really fun. When we get to do that, I like it. But it's very different in different leagues, and in France, it seems every touch is called a foul. In the Euroleague, they let you play, so it's much more physical. It was something that some of our guys weren't used to it. They were getting pushed around, but now we're pushing back.

I am playing a lot of point forward this year, which means I get to call a lot of plays. I've been doing that the last two years, because our coach, Jean-Luc Monschau, has shown that confidence in me. I like to think that when the games are tight, it's definitely the feeling I want, confidence in letting me decide. We...

The Elephant Man is hyped!

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:13:28 GMT

I know you all have missed me, not just in the blogosphere, but in the boxscore, too. What's up is that I missed our second French League game last weekend, which we lost, thanks to a head trauma concussion that I got in a collision in practice with Mickey Morandais. They rushed me off to the doctor and I came out of it with a concussion, a cut eye, a broken tooth and a split lip. The next day I looked like a boxer on the morning after a fight. My brother's been running around calling me The Elephant Man. I am lucky, really. Mickey and I bumped head to had at full speed going opposite directions in a fastbreak drill. My group was finishing, and I went to touch the baseline, but I didn't see him leaving. I hit his head, my head hit the floor, I passed out. It was a scary moment for the guys on the team, as well as for myself. The Lord bless us, though, and nothing serious happened. I practiced for the first time today, almost a week later, and it was interesting. I'm still trying to get the cobwebs out of my head. I'm still sporting a black eye and people on the street think I'm a boxer. But now I can look ahead and now we're getting ready to play Euroleague. And Mickey Morandais doesn't owe me anything but to make the first big three-pointer when I hit him with a pass so I get an assist. Then we'll be even.

The crazy part about our French League loss over the weekend at Heyres-Toulon is that we were up by 25 points with 15 minutes left in game. Then we only scored 10 points in fourth quarter. In the last 5 minutes, we shot 1 for 10. The game was at their place, so they came back and beat us, and now we're 1-1 in France. Our opener we won at home against Asvel, which finished behind us in third place last year. They got some good players this year and will be a team to be reckoned with later, so we were happy to beat them at home. I thought we looked OK. We had good contributions across the board. Our big guy, Victor Samnick, is playing real good right now, and LaMayne Wilson and John Cox are both getting at it. Rod Benson didn't play a lot of minutes, but we know he'll help us more when we get to the Euroleague. We're trying to get everyone on the same page, and we've got to get our confidence back in the next French League game this weekend. It's always tough when you lose a game like we did. Morale comes down a bit. But we looked good in practice, so we've just got to forget it and move on, get a big win Saturday and then welcome the Euroleague to town.

I've been talk to our guys who don't have Euroleague experience about the teams we're going to play in our group. I saw Panathinaikos play its first Greek League game on TV the other day. They've got a lot of smart, athletic and talented players. With Pau-Orthez a few years ago, we played Barcelona when Juan Carlos Navarro was there. He's a helluva player and it was something to play against him. Now they have Andre Barrett, a guy I played in college, and the big fella from Australia, David Andersen, so they are loaded. They have five guys on the bench who can start a lot of places. The only team in our group I haven't played against before is Montepaschi, but it sounds like they are really tough, too, and have been together a few years, which helps a lot. I do know Rimas Kaukenas, however, faced him when I was at University of Pittsburgh and he was at Seton Hall. So it's a mean group, but one good thing about the...

Ready for some major fun!

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:11:30 GMT

Hey, people! It's great to be coming back to the Euroleague in just a few weeks now. Just as much as people here in Nancy are excited, so are the players on our team. I don't know which players are more pumped up for it, those of us who have played in the Euroleague before or the guys who will be getting their first chance. We're all going to have fun, but I know one guy who might have more fun than anyone in the league: our new center Rod Benson. He's already famous for his blogs back in the States, and we're all running round here saying "Boom Tho" all the time, to get with his movement. Maybe I can't blog head-to-head with Rod, who's got an incredible imagination, but I'll do my best.

First, let me introduce my team a bit. We have a lot of new faces to go with the guys on the team like me who are trying to repeat as champions of the French League, plus other guys who are proven players in the French League. First, I've got to mention my brother Jeff, who played with me in the Euroleague for Strasbourg. I love playing with my brother. We know exactly every move the other one makes before he does it. He knows where I'm going to be before I get there, and vice-versa. It's like a brotherly intuition, and it's an incredible feeling. It's got a lot to do with how we won two championships in France together with two different teams.

But of course, Nancy is much more than just the Greer brothers, and some players you might not know about now you are going to like when you see them play. There's a great array of talent here. John Cox, who is playing point guard for us, is going to surprise some people. It's his first time as a full-time point guard, and he's been doing a great job in preseason. We have French national team guard, Steed Tchicamboud, who plays great defense. Lamayne Wilson had a great year in the ULEB Cup last season. He can switch between the three and four positions and really shoot the ball. One of the great young guys is our center, Aboubacar Zaki, a big 20-year-old who has NBA potential. And don't forget Rod Benson. He's a really active big man besides being a great guy and a great personality to have on the team. He gives us an edge and keeps us laughing. Then you've got the vets: myself, Victor Samnik, Cyril Julian, Michel Morandais. I know one thing for sure: it's going to be fun playing with these guys.

Even our coach, Jean-Luc Monschau, might be a little unknown to fans around Europe, but he's had the most consistent teams in France the last few years. He's been in the last four French League playoff finals, and it would have been five in a row if he didn't leave Gravelines a week before I got there in 2004. I've known him since I first got to France in 2002, but last season was the first year I got to play with him, and he's a coach who let's players play. He's not going to restrict anybody. I have played probably my best basketball so far in Europe for Jean-Luc. He's given me the utmost confidence. He's a great person, a great family man. I love him as a coach and a person. He comes to win, and it's a pleasure playing for a coach who always has your back and you've got his. He's been a winner, right down the line, taking Nancy to those four straight finals. It was great last year to turn that corner and win the final for us, for him and the fans here. Finally, Nancy got to be French champs and we made the Euroleague!

It's a big jump for all of us to be in the Euroleague. It's something we spent all season last year trying...