There’s quite a bit going on abroad right now as both the FIBA Americas and EuroBasket competitions are happening as teams attempt to move one step closer to qualifying for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The games aren’t quite to the point of must-watch considering both tournaments are still in the pool-play rounds, but please watch the below highlights to find out what you’re missing when you decide not to tune into ESPN3 for the most meaningful basketball happening this month.
The EuroBasket has taken quite a bit of attention away from the FIBA Americas competition considering it features more teams, more NBA players and a generally better brand of basketball. FIBA Americas consists of Dominican Republic big man Jack Michael Martinez dropping dimes, though, and that’s sometimes much more fun to watch.
The rest of the top plays in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday featured Luis Scola passing, Renaldo Balkman dunking, Carlos Arroyo assisting, Jack Michael Martinez (again) and former Atlanta Hawks wing Donta Smith putting on a full-court show while masquerading as a Venezuelan.
EuroBasket’s top play from Thursday featured former Boston Celtics big man Semih Erden putting an unsuspecting Italian on a poster. It was mean and not something big men should do, but Semih Erden did it:
The rest of the top plays taking place in Slovenia on Thursday were compiled in a handy Top Five format and feature Erden, a pair of game-winning corner 3s, Jan Vesely of the Washington Wizards putting back an offensive rebound with ferociousness and former Portland Trail Blazers wing Rudy Fernandez nutmegging someone to set up current Portland Trail Blazers forward Victor Claver for an easy dunk:
Who says basketball in September has to be boring?