NBA Live Europe Road Trip - Day 4

AI. This cat managed to put the slide on me twice today – I thought hiscbeef was with the US media, not the brothers from South London. Fact is, this is one baller that just does not relish rapping with the likes of me unless he has to.

The Koln Arena is quite a huge spot compared to the Paris Bercy. It’s located in the centre of town and it’s arch can be seen clearly from our hotel which is to the south west corner of Cologne. There was not much action at the arena this morning, however the Suns and Sixers had practice so we thought we’d catch a few players. This was a little difficult though as the official media day was yesterday, but who could resist not talking to a cat like me?

AI. That’s who.

Philly finished their practice, Andre Iguadola (the new AI) and Shavlik Randolph (former Dukie and Deng teammate); both stopped to kick it with me. But our boy crept out the back way to avoid us. We made our way to the team bus, there he was, laid at the back cheesing because he had successfully given us the slip!

At the conclusion of the Suns practice, Nash made sure he stopped by to show me a lil’ love. Steve is another class act - this interview was a lot easier to get as we have a good relationship stemming back from the days when he would join the Manchester Giants practice sessions.

The game action started at 6pm - CSKA Euro champions v Maccabi Tel Aviv. Trajon Langdon’s boys (CSKA), controlled that contest and advanced to tomorrow’s final. Obviously the main interest was on the 9pm match-up between the Sixers and Suns. It started out as lesson on how to run the fastbreak. Phoenix broke away for dunk after dunk. Countless alley-oop’s
and deep 3’s were the daggers that Philly just couldn’t handle.

Unlike Paris, the crowd were big into this game...these were true basketball fans. They were incredibly loud and on their feet from the beginning. In fact, they gave the players a reception usually reserved for rock stars. Press row was located in the mid section of the arena, quite a few rows up from the court but a good spot to view the game. I sat with my Five crew next to Christine Holzig, a German reporter from a talk radio station called Deutsche Welle Radio. She was a true Suns fan getting very excited as Shawn Marion and the boys built a commanding 18-point lead in the third quarter.

Christine’s smile soon died as the taxi squad from Philly chipped away atthe Suns lead in the fourth quarter. The majority of the crowd were behindthe 76ers, their benchwarmers began to cause Phoenix problems. AI, C-Webb and company watched from the comfort of their bench as Philly launched what seemed like an impossible comeback. With 20 seconds on the clock and trailing by a point, the crowd exploded when Rodney Carney jacked in a 3 to put
Sixers ahead. With 10 ticks remaining Steve Nash’s men were unable toreclaim the lead. Now they must play for the wooden spoon against Maccabi Tel Aviv, whilst Philly will try and avoid back to back losses to Euroleague clubs.

The game finished around midnight, I had no time to hang around as I was once again on the prowl for a couple of sound bites. I had my man Shawn Marion messing with me, again so I asked him if he has enjoyed his time out here. His reply, “It’s all good, but I’m ready to get back to the crib on the first thing smoking. I got to get back quick!!”

We made a quick dash to Philadelphia’s locker room, yes, you guessed it. We waited him (the elusive AI) out until 1am. He gave us the slip for the second time in a day. Iverson’s obviously got the art of disappearing down to a science.

I’ll try again tomorrow.