The NBA Crosses all Borders

by Codie Gail

No it wasn't the latest ad for Benetton. It was the NBA finals and it broke the record for the most international players to suit up for the best of seven. It was also televised in a record 20 countries and translated into 46 different languages.

French guard and series MVP, Tony Parker, Argentinean born playmaker Manu Ginobli, and US Virgin Island born Tim Duncan led the San Antonio Spurs to their fourth NBA title defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers who have 3 global imports in supporting roles to their star Lebron James.

Tony Parker, who averaged 19.8 points and 6.4 assists, was the first European to be named as Series Final MVP. This comes on the heels of German born Dirk Nowitki of the Dallas Mavericks being named league-wide MVP, also a first for a European player.

"European basketball is improving every year," Parker told reporters.

Parker met with the press following Thursday night's sweep with a French flag draped over his shoulders.

"It's just to show love to my country," he said. "I don't forget about them. I know a lot of people wake up at three in the morning to watch me play."

Parker says he plans to be ready to participate this summer with the national team.

Ginobli, who was relatively quiet in game three, provided some much needed clutch jumpers and free throws to dampen Cleveland's hopes of a comeback.

"He's an ultimate competitor," said Spur's Coach Gregg Popovich. "He did what he has done so many times in Olympic Games, in Euroleague & in the NBA championships."

A supporting roster of Beno Udrih, Zyndrunas llgauskas, Fabricio Oberto, Francisco Elson, Anderson Varejao & Aleksander Pavlovic round out the cast of imports to make this the only NBA finals to be televised on a record 128 networks.

Newcomers included the first station from the Middle East, Jordan based ART.

"The NBA finals are no longer just an American event. It's worldwide," said ART sports director Mustapha Tell.

And with the playing field for international born prodigies widening there is no doubt these numbers will increase every year. In this season's NBA draft it is expected that at least four international players will round out the top 30 picks.

Yi Jianlian from China, who has remained relatively a mystery other than a grainy youtube video, a Nike commercial and some ESPN highlights, is predicted as the draft's wild card.

According to NBAdraft.net "Yi is a sound ball handler" and a good defender of the lane. He is also a surprisingly good free throw shooter for a person of his size.

The seven footer is probably one of the more anticipated international players in this years draft but with Spain's Rudy Fernandez, Brazil's Tiago Splitter & Italy's Marco Belinelli all expected to go early, it will be interesting to see how the face of the game continues to change.

Codie Gail discusses issues in sports at bigdaveonsports.com, your one stop for sports on the web.

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