Australia’s Under-19 Men’s team, the Emus, won their opening game at the 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, defeating Canada 88-77 in Auckland, New Zealand on Thursday afternoon.
The Emus were led by Cody Ellis, son of former Perth Wildcats great Mike Ellis, and fellow 2009 Boomers squad member Brock Motum. Ellis was dominant with 25 points, six rebounds and three blocks while Motum added 22 points and eight rebounds. Canada’s Mangisto Arop led all scorers with 27 points.
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The Detroit Pistons have reached agreement with free-agent guard Ben Gordon and forward Charlie Villanueva, Gordon will receive a five-year contract worth around $55 million while Villanueva’s five-year deal is expected to be worth about $35 million.
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Nathan Jawai shot a game-high 28 points but it was not enough as Australia suffered a 74-61 loss to China in an international friendly in Benxi.
Jawai, 208cm, had a monster game in his second match for Australia and connected on 11-of-12 shots to finish with 28 points and 11 rebounds while poor perimeter shooting restricted the remainder of the side to single digits.
China’s first NBA player Wang Zhizhi top-scored for the host nation with 13 points as the hosts completed a 2-0 sweep of the series.
The Boomers trailed by 16 points at the final break and pulled to within five points with less than two minutes to play only to miss clutch shots at the death while China iced the game from the free throw line.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers,added center Shaquille O’Neal, in a deal with the Phoenix Suns. The Eastern champion Orlando Magic added eight-time All-Star Vince Carter from the New Jersey Nets.
Meanwhile San Antonio acquired Richard Jefferson from Milwaukee for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, and Fabricio Oberto.
Gotta love silly season in the NBA.
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