Basketball
Preparation of the national basketball team for Latvia and Belgium began with George Papas
George Papas is the first EuroLeague player to be included in the men’s national team squad from day one. Leonidas Kaselakis is injured.
The men’s national team began preparation for the two FIBA ”window” games against Latvia and Belgium for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers on Monday, November 7th. The first training session ended with sixteen (16) athletes and not fourteen (14) as announced a few days ago.
George Papas is among those who have already trained under the tutelage of Sotiris Manolopoulos. The expatriate Olympiacos guard is the first player in the EuroLeague to contribute to the 2/2 success in these qualifiers. Leonidas Kaselakis, on the other hand, is not quite fit after his injury.
Giorgos Tanoulis and Stelios Poulianitis will also play a supporting role in the preparation.
In the coming days it will be known who (and when) from the remaining players competing in the EuroLeague will strengthen the “blue and white” in this “window”. However, Partizan’s stance on the Yam Madar issue is not just a happy omen as far as the presence of Ioannis Papapetrou in the two games is concerned.
The training sessions will take place under the guidance of Sotiris Manolopoulos and his partners Savvas Kamberidis, Stefanos Triantafyllos and Marios Batis.
The men’s national team schedule includes two more days of training at OAKA, with the team traveling to Crete on Wednesday 9 November. The day after the game against Latvia (Saturday 12 November), the men’s national team return to their base for a training session before boarding the plane again, this time to Belgium where they will play another crucial game on Monday 14 November game will contest.
Source: sport 24
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic He escaped serious injury, Serbian publication Meridian Sport reported.
Jokic appears to be in good condition, and preliminary data suggests the knee was hyperextended without serious damage.
At the same time, there is no official update from the club at the moment. It was previously reported that Jokic would need to undergo a full examination of his left knee on Tuesday, December 30.
Nikola injured his left knee in the final seconds of the first half of the game against Miami (123:147). He was seen limping on his way to the dressing room and did not return to the field after a long break.
Nikola Jokic went down with an apparent leg injury against the Heat. pic.twitter.com/4kPf9HAOt8
— Sports Center (@SporMerkezi) December 30, 2025
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
True, his team was left without a victory.
Over the past year, fans have become accustomed to news about records coming from overseas. Until recently, their main supplier was hockey player Alexander Ovechkin. But in the 2025/26 season, successes in the NBA were added to the achievements of our athletes in the NHL. This became possible thanks to the play of Yegor Demin, who again played a great match the day before with the Brooklyn Nets.
If the Russian does not slow down, then in the future, like Ovechkin, he has every chance to go down in the history of North American sports.
On the way to a dream
Russian representation in the NBA has always been more modest than in the NHL. And even with certain achievements, and Timofey Mozgov and Alexander Kaun, by the way, became league champions, the thought does not arise to compare the successes of Russian hockey players and basketball players overseas. How many American basketball fans now remember Sergei Monya, Yaroslav Korolev, Pavel Podkolzin?
Only Andrei Kirilenko stands out from the general background – the Russian forward played in the NBA for quite a long time. I even once went to an all-star game, where I played side by side with people like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, Allen Iverson. But how many star matches did our hockey players have overseas?
With all due respect to the AK-47 game, he still does not reach the level of a North American basketball legend. Time will tell whether Yegor Demin, who powerfully broke into the NBA at the age of 19, will be able to write his name into history. But for now, the Brooklyn Nets basketball player is doing everything possible to make his dream come true.
Prolific newcomer
Kirilenko was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA draft as the 24th pick, and Brooklyn took Demin eighth. But these were still advances, which have so far been fully justified. The newcomer regularly appears on the court, and with the exception of the first couple of weeks of the season, in the starting lineup. At the same time, Egor is not just serving his number: in the last six matches he scored at least 14 points, in two cases he reached the 20 point mark.
In the next regular season game, the first basketball player in the league with the letter “e” on his uniform scored 23 points in the match against Golden State. Demin managed not only to repeat his best result, but also set a Brooklyn record for three-pointers among newcomers – seven accurate hits from behind the arc. True, the Russian team still lost with a score of 107:120, but in the context of the personal success of our basketball player overseas, this is a secondary issue.
Of course, to achieve sporting greatness, Egor needs to spend more than one season at this level, but at least a dozen and a half. Demin, with 275 points in the NBA, did not even reach the results of Sergei Karasev (287), although he can do this in the next game. And then new landmarks will appear: Viktor Khryapa (643), Alexey Shved (1349), Timofey Mozgov (3072) and, of course, Andrey Kirilenko (9431). When the Russian surpasses the results of the AK-47, then we can talk about an established star in the NBA. In the meantime, we can only wish our basketball player not to lower his demands on himself and avoid serious injuries.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has been writing for a news website since 2015. My work primarily focuses on sports news, but I have also written about other topics such as technology and the arts. I have an extensive background in journalism, having worked as a reporter for a local newspaper before moving to a news website.
11 games were played in the NBA regular season on the night of December 29-30.
Miami hosted Denver and earned a landslide victory.
The home team was ahead by 12 points with 41:29 to play in the first quarter, but the Nuggets were able to slowly win back in the second quarter. The teams entered a long break with the score tied at 63:63. The decisive factor in the match was the third quarter, when the Heat made an 11:0 move and led by 15 points at 84:69. After that the home team completely controlled the course of the game and only increased their advantage, achieving a crushing victory – 147:123.
The most productive player of the match was Powell, who brought 25 points to Miami, while Jaques (20 points + 11 assists) and Adebayo had double-doubles with 13 points + 10 rebounds.
San Antonio hosted Cleveland and suffered a sensational defeat.
Three-quarters of the meeting was fought evenly, with the teams responding to each other’s pushes with their own pushes and often staying within a shot or two of each other. That changed in the fourth quarter, as the Cavaliers went on a 15-2 run to take a 10-point lead, 94-84. They then maintained their advantage and won with a score of 113:101.
Cleveland’s main hero in this game was Allen, who had a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Garland can achieve the same success with 15 points and 11 assists.
Toronto beat Orlando at home.
Magic started the match better and made a 14:2 move at the start. Afterwards, they took control of the course of the game and increased the advantage completely to +21 – 51:30 in the second 12 minutes. After that, the home team slowly started to close the gap and entered the long break with a score of 11-11 at 54:65. The third quarter was tied, so Orlando still had a double-digit advantage ahead of the final: 94:84. At the beginning of the match the play followed the same scenario but in the middle Toronto made a move with 15:0 and not only won it back but also took the lead with 105:102. The fate of the game was decided by Barnes’ free throws, which set the score at 107:106 with 1 minute and 27 seconds left in the quarter.
Barnes could not make a triple-double this time, but he did a double-double and got 13 points and 11 rebounds, while the most productive name in the victory was Shead with 19 points.
NBA. Regular season, December 30
Miami – Denver – 147:123 (41:29, 22:34, 47:36, 37:24)
Miami: Powell (25), Weir (19 + 9 rebounds), Wiggins (19 + 6 assists), Adebayo (13 + 10 rebounds), Mitchell (10 + 9 assists) – start; Jovic (22), Jaques (20 + 11 assists), Smith (11), Larsson (3), Fontecchio (3), Johnson (2), Yakucionis (0), Gardner (0).
Denver: Jokic (21 + 8 assists), J. Murray (20 + 11 assists), Hardaway (16), Jones (16), Watson (11) – start; B. Brown (15), Valanciunas (6), Holmes (4), Strother (4), Nnaji (4), Pickett (2), Jones (2), Tyson (2).
San Antonio – Cleveland – 101:113 (26:25, 29:24, 23:27, 23:37)
San Antonio: Vembanyama (26 + 14 rebounds), Castle (15 + 8 assists + 5 losses), Fox (14), Vassell (7), Barnes (3) – start; Harper (11), Cornet (10 + 9 rebounds), K. Johnson (8), Shempeni (7), Brian (0).
cleveland: Allen (27 + 10 rebounds), E. Mobley (16 + 7 rebounds), Garland (15 + 11 assists), Mitchell (10 + 7 assists), Wade (10) – start; Hunter (11 + 9 rebounds), Tyson (11), Tomlin (6), Merrill (5), Porter (2).
Toronto – Orlando – 107:106 (18:29, 36:36, 30:29, 23:12)
toronto: Ingram (17 + 9 rebounds), Barnes (13 + 11 rebounds), Mamukelashvili (13), Agbadzhi (10), Quickley (4) – start; Shed (19), Dick (15), Walter (10 + 7 rebounds), Murray-Boyles (4 + 12 rebounds), Bettle (2), Bamba (0).
Orlando’s: Black (27), Banchero (23 + 15 rebounds + 10 assists), Bane (18), Jones (10), Carter (9) – start; Richardson (7), da Silva (6), Kane (3), Bitadze (2), Penda (1), Isaac (0).
Washington – Phoenix – 101:115 (23:22, 31:39, 25:26, 22:28)
washington: Johnson (24), McCollum (17), Coulibaly (13 + 7 rebounds), Watkins (3), Sarr (2) – start; Shempeny (11), Carrington (10), Riley (10), Bagley (7+7 rebounds), Brenham (4), Johnson (0), Hill (0).
Phoenix: Brooks (26), Gillespie (25 + 6 assists), Booker (22), O’Neal (15), Igodaro (6 + 10 rebounds) – starter; Goodwin (14 + 7 rebounds), Livers (3), Buey (2), Richards (2 + 9 rebounds), Hayes-Davis (0), Fleming (0), Maluach (0).
Charlotte-Milwaukee-113:123 (26:25, 40:38, 23:32, 24:28)
Charlotte: Miller (31 + 8 rebounds), Ball (26 + 7 assists + 6 losses), Diabate (14 + 9 rebounds), Bridges (3), James (0) – start; Sexton (16 + 8 assists), Green (10), McNeely (7), Hall (3), Hall (3 + 11 rebounds), Mann (0).
Milwaukee: Y. Antetokounmpo (24 + 7 assists), Turner (23 + 4 blocked shots), Porter (15 + 11 assists), Rollins (13), Green (5) – start; Portis (25), Trent (9), Kuzma (6), G. Harris (3), Sims (0).
Brooklyn – Golden State – 107:120 (30:28, 27:31, 28:30, 22:31)
Brooklyn: Porter (27 + 9 rebounds), Demin (23), Claxton (15 + 9 rebounds), Clowney (11), Mann (4) – start; Thomas (13), Traore (9), Sharpe (3), Powell (2), Wolfe (0).
Golden State: Curry (27), Butler (21), Dr. Green (7), Moody (4), Post (3) – start; Jackson-Davis (11), Payton II (10), Melton (10 + 8 rebounds), Richard (10), Podziemski (7), Hield (6), Spencer (4), Santos (0).
New Orleans – New York – 125:130 (41:37, 34:35, 28:24, 22:34)
New Orleans: Williamson (32), Bay (26 + 6 assists), Murphy (21), Quinn (7 + 9 rebounds + 6 assists), Fiers (4) – start; Poole (26), Peavey (3), Hawkins (2), Missy (2), Looney (2 + 9 rebounds).
new York: Brunson (28 + 10 assists), Anunoby (23 + 11 rebounds), Diawara (18), Towns (12 + 12 rebounds), Bridges (6 + 10 assists) – start; McBride (14), Yabusele (9), Clarkson (9), Kolek (7), McCullar (2), Jamison (2), Hookporty (0).
Oklahoma – Atlanta – 140:129 (35:38, 35:36, 43:29, 27:26)
Oklahoma: Gilgeous-Alexander (39 + 6 assists), Holmgren (24 + 9 rebounds), Jaylen Williams (20 + 9 rebounds + 7 assists), Wallace (17 + 7 rebounds), Dort (6) – start; Caruso (16 + 9 rebounds), Mitchell (10), Carlson (6), Wiggins (2), Joe (0), K. Williams (0).
of Atlanta: Alexander-Walker (30), Okongwu (26 + 14 rebounds + 6 assists), Krejci (18), Daniels (13 + 7 assists), Risache (12) – start; Kennard (12), Wallace (9), Newell (9), Gueye (0).
Houston – Indiana – 126:119 (30:25, 36:23, 39:30, 21:41)
Houston: Durant (30), Smith (21 + 10 rebounds), Thompson (20 + 8 rebounds + 7 assists), Eason (13 + 8 rebounds), Adams (8) – start; Sheppard (13), Finney-Smith (6), Capela (6+7 rebounds), Okogie (3), Davison (2), Tate (2), Green (2), A. Holiday (0).
indiana: Siakam (23), Maturin (14), Nembhard (11), Furphy (9), Huff (8) – start; Nesmith (14), Walker (12), Jackson (7), McConnell (6), Peter (6), Jones (4), Potter (3 + 6 assists), Thompson (2), Bradley (0).
Chicago – Minnesota – 101:136 (23:21, 27:34, 28:40, 23:41)
Chicago: Vucevic (23), Buzelis (13), Giddy (11), Okoro (4), White (0) – start; Smith (12), Jones (11), Dosunmu (10 + 7 assists), Herter (8), Williams (7), Phillips (2), Carter (0), Terry (0).
Minnesota: Edwards (23), Randle (17 + 14 assists), DiVincenzo (12), Gobert (9 + 10 rebounds + 4 blocks), McDaniels (7) – start; Reed (33 + 7 rebounds), Hyland (12), Clark (11), Dillingham (5), Miller (3), Juzeng (2), Conley (2), Beranger (0).
Portland – Dallas – 125:122 (42:29, 33:34, 22:30, 28:29)
Portland: Avdija (27 + 9 rebounds + 11 assists + 8 losses), Sharpe (24), Klingin (18 + 11 rebounds), Kamara (9), Sissoko (6) – start; Love (24), Ruper (9), R. Williams (8 + 8 rebounds), Yang Hansen (0).
dallas: Christie (25), Gafford (17 + 10 rebounds), Flagg (15 + 7 assists + 5 turnovers), Washington (8), Nembhard (0 + 6 assists) – start; Williams (22), Marshall (17), Thompson (14), Powell (2), Caleb Martin (2).
tournament tables
Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.
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