Worldwide Basketball Journey Tales … continued

TULCEA, Romania — Sneaking onto the ground at halftime to ask the visiting star for a selfie? I do know we had that loopy incident throughout Game 1 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio when a courtside fan dangerously ran onto the wooden looking for some in-game virality alongside Victor Wembanyama, however you actually do not see that too usually again house.

Emphasis on again house.

As I used to be rapidly reminded on a swiftly assembled journey to the pleasant new 5,000-seat Danubius Arena in a port metropolis unaccustomed to internet hosting sporting occasions of significance, issues could be a bit extra casual within the worldwide area than we’re accustomed to in NBA environment.

And that led to a scene that The Words Guy really caught (for as soon as) with my iPhone digicam although I did not fairly consider what was occurring: Bulgaria star Sasha Vezenkov graciously agreed to cease and pose for a couple of pics with giddy Romanian kids who interrupted his warmups earlier than the house staff was even again on the ground for the second half:

Vezenkov had 22 of his 36 factors by that time in Bulgaria’s eventual 103-86 victory over Romania in a 2029 EuroBasket qualifying sport that supplied my very own savory style of FIBA window dressing. From Aug. 27-31, 40-ish NBA players — together with a slew of former NBAers like Vezenkov — turned out for his or her nationwide groups and supplied us all with a desperately wanted five-day hoops repair as we slog by way of a wait that also has three weeks to go for the 28 groups (all however Macao-bound Dallas and Houston) that will not formally be again collectively till a leaguewide burst of Media Day actions on Sept. 28.

Last Monday alone: Denver’s Nikola Jokić performed by way of a nasty sickness to captain Serbia to a gritty victory over Italy … Miami’s Pelle Larsson continued a breakout summer time for Sweden with one other sturdy sport in defeat to Wemby-captained France …Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe (The Bahamas), new Atlanta teammates Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Lu Dort (Canada) and the LA Clippers’ Rui Hachimura (Japan) all delivered their very own gaudy stat traces … and Greece managed to beat Spain in extra time with out the resting Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Your humble correspondent, in the meantime, was on his personal little journey.