A startling start

PARIS (The Monday International Show) - Several former NBA players still in their prime shined brightly during the first week of euroleague action.

Macijauskas, Greer, Wood and Jackson all scored at least 19 points in Olympiakos' home win over Vitoria despite good games from former Net, Planinic, and Spurs draftee Splitter.

Jasikevicius was decisive with seven straight money-time points to save Pana from an embarrasing home loss vs Rome in their first game after being trounced in the preseason by Houston and San Antonio (using NBA rules).

Pana's dream team (and mega budget), will need time to gel.

Three of the smaller budget teams were surprising as Partizan upset the star-studded team from Barcelona, Le Mans behind NBA prospect Batum, almost beat Maccabbi in Tel-Aviv and Roanne, the euroleague's smallest budget won in Bamberg on a last secong three-pointer by Brion "Gold " Rush who did the same thing against Toulon in a French league game last weekend!

Roanne is a team with a strong starting five and a thin bench that shows no fear while LeMans repeated last season's bad habit of cracking in the last few possessions after building a lead which is typical of such a young team.

It's obvious that the euroleague is becoming more and more of a rival to the NBA in terms of ecomomics and recruiting to the despair of Mark Cuban and less and less of a consenting victim to NBA dominance!

Several parameters still keep the two leagues apart.

To level the playing field, a uniformisation of the rules world-wide is really necessary.

The NBA has much bigger and better arenas to play in, with high quality lighting, which is key to spectacular TV coverage For instance the production of the game in Bamberg missed filming numerous buckets and important plays because of mis-placed and mis-used cameras, something you rarely see during an NBA telecast!

Of course David Stern has his own problems concerning the referees, the Knicks and Seattle to deal with and he has announced a redistribution of certain responsabilities among his top staff.

In an ideal future, I see the two leagues growing hand in hand, playing by the same rules everywhere, creating a world cup for clubs, and facilitating bridges that permit young NBA prospects to progress while getting more formative playing time in europe before returning as finished products to the NBA!

George Eddy