After a day that saw him play second fiddle in a win over Brazil, Goran Dragic took it upon himself to lead the charge as Slovenia finished pool play with a 65-60 win over lowly Iran.

Dragic did his damage primarily in the first half of the game, finishing the half with 11 points, two rebounds and two steals. He finished the game with 18 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes on the court. The Dragon’s shooting stayed sharp as he hit 7-of-10, including 2-of-4 from deep.

The win, which pushes Slovenia to 4-1 in the preliminary round, didn’t mean a whole lot, as Slovenia had already solidified the No. 2 spot in Group B behind the U.S. team. The seeding likely sets up a meeting with Australia (3-2) and could lead to a showdown with Turkey and new Suns teammate Hedo Turkoglu.

Dragic had help against the Iranians as Miha Zupan added 15 points and five rebounds. The entire game  was a constant back-and-forth, as the two teams alternated outscoring each other in each quarter.

Slovenia went up 19-6 after the first, but a determined Iran won the second quarter 17-9 to erase much of the deficit and go into the half down 28-23. Slovenia came out firing though to start the second half and outscored Iran 24-11 in the quarter to go up 52-34. Iran wouldn’t quit though, and scored 26 to Slovenia’s 30 in the fourth to make the game close, but not enough for a win.

Turkoglu rests as Turkey wrecks China

Hedo Turkoglu didn’t see the floor much Thursday, but it wasn’t like Turkey really needed him. The Turks crushed China 87-40 in the final game of pool play, staying perfect at 5-0 and securing their first place finish in Group C. [Read more →]

The Phoenix Suns in the FIBA World Championship just keep on rolling, as Goran Dragic and Slovenia and Hedo Turkoglu and Turkey each won a nail-biter in Wednesday’s action.

Turkey’s 79-77 victory over Puerto Rico clinched the hosts the top seed in Group C. Slovenia is guaranteed the No. 2 slot out of Group B after holding off Brazil, 80-77.

The two Suns are now a combined 7-1 in pool play, with that only loss of course being Slovenia’s defeat at the hands of the Americans.

The biggest positive from a Phoenix perspective in Turkey’s win one was the return of Hedo Turkoglu’s jump shot. Turkoglu entered the game shooting 8-for-34 (23.5 percent) from the field and 4-for-20 from distance (20 percent) in the tournament, but in this one he went for a team-high 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting and 4-for-6 marksmanship from deep.

The Suns need Turkoglu to be a deadly shooter for this “no power forward” experiment to work. Hedo has fallen in love with the long ball in this tournament, but for once it was OK since he was draining them.

He also chipped in with a team-high-tying five assists as one of the main distributor’s for Turkey. That is a positive, and it would be even more positive to see him rely less on the three in games against players he should be able to beat off the dribble or post up.

Turkey (4-0) trailed Puerto Rico (1-3) by seven at halftime, but a pair of 7-0 runs helped them close the gap to 1 at the end of three. Turkey then started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 spurt buoyed by its boisterous crowd and held off a furious Puerto Rico rally when Angel Vassallo came up short on a potential game-winning three in the final seconds after hitting a pair of treys in the final minute to make things close.

Turkey’s home-court advantage will clearly be a factor moving on in the tournament. If Hedo can continue to shoot better than 50 percent while distributing for his teammates, Turkey has a great shot at earning a medal.

Dragic takes a backseat as Slovenia cruises to second

Playing against his former Suns teammate Leandro Barbosa, Goran Dragic played more of a supporting role in Slovenia’s victory over Brazil. [Read more →]

For all the excitement that Hedo Turkoglu expressed about representing his country at the FIBA World Championship this year, he sure hasn’t played like it through three games.

Although Turkoglu helped keep host country Turkey undefeated with a 76-65 victory over Greece on Tuesday, he struggled with his shot once again, nailing only two of his 12 shot attempts and tallying only eight points in a game-high 33 minutes.

The 6-foot-10 forward chipped in with six rebounds, three assists and two steals, but is shooting 8-for-34 (23.5 percent) from the field and 4-for-20 (20 percent) from long range after three games.

A lot of his misses came late in the game with Turkey up double digits, as Turkoglu went 1-for-6 in the final 5:42. And the fact that he’s led his squad to an undefeated record thus far means he’s doing something right. The victory also allowed Turkey to jump ahead of Greece into sole possession of first place in the Group C standings.

But the fact is, Turkoglu is still shooting 23.5 percent against mostly non-NBA talent and hasn’t looked like he’s in the greatest shape in the world. Suns fans should hope this isn’t the Hedo they’ll be getting come Oct. 26 when the 2010-11 season tips off.

Up next: After a day off Tuesday, Goran Dragic and Slovenia (2-1) will take on Leandro Barbosa and Brazil (2-1) at 11:30 a.m. MST on Wednesday. Turkoglu will have a chance to bounce back from his tough first three games when Turkey (3-1) takes on Puerto Rico (1-2) at 11.

The Suns need help on the glass, and they've signed Dwayne Jones for that purpose.

The Phoenix Suns have been searching for a big man to round out their front court for weeks.

Although he certainly isn’t anybody’s ideal candidate, they appear to have done that Monday afternoon as they signed 6-foot-11, 250-pound Dwayne Jones, according to a press release.

Jones is a familiar face around US Airways Center, as he signed with the Suns on April 5 and finished the 2009-10 season in Phoenix.

The 27-year-old forward was part of the trade with Toronto that brought Hedo Turkoglu to Phoenix, but the Raptors chose not to keep Jones around.

The former St. Joseph’s product originally captured the Suns’ attention because of his work in the D-League, as he led the Austin Toros in rebounding (16.0 per game) through 48 games in 2009-10, while averaging an impressive 17.6 points per contest.

He was nothing more than a decent practice player in Phoenix, appearing in two regular season games and two playoff games, but with the Suns hurting for a rebounder the move doesn’t come as a huge surprise.

As his D-League numbers suggest, he knows how to attack the glass, which figures to be the Suns’ biggest weakness heading into the 2010-11 season.

According to a recent tweet from The Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro, Jones signed a one-year, minimum-salary deal with small guarantees, meaning that he will indeed be suiting up in purple and orange past the preseason.

The move now brings the Suns’ roster to 14, a number they have rarely reached in prior years due to luxury tax issues. The signing shows Phoenix truly is worried about rebounding the basketball next season, although Jones won’t even see enough time to help the Suns’ rebounding woes.

But it can never hurt to have another big body around, and the options really weren’t there for the Suns. So all in all, bringing Dwayne Jones back to Phoenix isn’t necessarily bad, but don’t expect him to make a difference in 2010-11.

Goran Dragic had to feel pretty comfortable Monday in helping Slovenia to a preliminary round win over Croatia in the FIBA World Championship.

For much of the second half, the Slovenians looked a lot like the Phoenix Suns, nailing three-pointer after three-pointer to put away their southern neighbor 91-84. Dragic was Slovenia’s second-leading scorer, finishing with 14 points, four assists and four rebounds.

Dragic shot 5-for-10 from the field, contributing to Slovenia’s 55.4 percent shooting percentage. However, The Dragon also committed a team-high five turnovers.

Croatia controlled the tempo and led for most of the first half, heading into halftime up 44-39. With just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Dragic sparked the Slovenians on a game-changing run.

With a defender in his face, Dragic nailed a jumper to tie the game at 52. He followed up on the next possession with a three-pointer to put Slovenia ahead. After Croatia turned over the ball on an over-and-back violation, Dragic dished to Bostjan Nachbar who promptly sank yet another deep ball, putting Slovenia up by six. A flurry of three-pointers followed by both teams, starting with Marko Popovic’s deep ball that brought the score to 58-55.

Another set of three-pointers from Uros Slokar and Miha Zupan gave Slovenia a 64-55 lead and it would end the third quarter up 65-59. The Croatians pulled ahead briefly in the fourth quarter, but after trading leads briefly, Zupan nailed another three and the Slovenians never trailed again.

Each team finished with 11 three-pointers, with Slovenia shooting 11-of-22 from deep and Croatia 11-of-20.

The win moved Slovenia to 2-1 in preliminary round play. What showed through most for Dragic was his ever-increasing confidence. The way he directed his teams loudly on the court at times brought to mind Steve Nash commanding his team with intensity and focus.

Dragic seemed comfortable running the offense and confident in his ability to lead it. As an individual though, Dragic is still working to hone his offensive skills when it comes to moving with the ball (hence five turnovers) and passing. Ultimately, if Dragic can keep contributing the amount of scoring he did and direct the offense with such efficiency, it should bode well for Slovenia and the Suns.

U.S. survives Brazil, Barbosa

Former Phoenix Sun Leandro Barbosa went on a first-quarter tear Monday in an effort to put the unbeaten Brazilians ahead early against the also unbeaten Americans, but it wasn’t enough as the U.S. squeaked by, 70-68.

Barbosa (5-for-18, 3-for-13 from distance) scored eight in the first quarter, but cooled to finish with 14 points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals. Barbosa nearly forced overtime with a last-second shot that rimmed out.

Kevin Durant led the U.S. to its third win in pool play with 27  points and 10 rebounds. Chauncey Billups added 15 points and Derrick Rose scored 11.

Up next: The Dragon next takes the Slovenians up against Brazil (2-1) Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. MST. The game will be broadcasted on NBA TV.

After a stellar performance in Slovenia’s opening victory over Tunisia, foul trouble and Team USA’s pressure defense limited The Dragon Sunday morning in America’s 99-77 win over Slovenia.

Goran Dragic scored just seven points on 2-for-8 shooting (with three coming on a garbage trey in the game’s final minute) to go with four assists, two boards and three turnovers.

Foul trouble plagued Dragic all game, as he picked up three first-half fouls that kept forcing him to the bench, and none of them were particularly smart fouls (particularly the third as Dragic tried to provide pressure in the backcourt).

He did a nice job setting up his teammates as aside from his four dimes teammates blew shots or were fouled on a number of other setups. However, he seemed to force the issue too much with his own offense, taking difficult contested shots that you rarely see him take in Phoenix.

With the Suns, he can let the game come to him since there isn’t too much of a scoring burden on Dragic in Phoenix. If he has an open opportunity then he can take it, but the Suns don’t rely on his offense.

It’s a different story with Slovenia, so Dragic forced a number of pull-up jumpers that are very low percentage shots and he predictably missed.

His court vision impressed me most in this game as Dragic was often able to find mismatches inside off the pick-and-roll and he made a number of nice passes, he just struggled to score against the Americans’ pressure defense.

The loss drops Slovenia to 1-1 in pool play. That ties them with Croatia, their next opponent on Monday at 6:30 a.m. MST. This will be a huge game because it will essentially clinch the winner a berth in the elimination round and give that squad a very good chance at a top-three pool seed along with Team USA (2-0) and Brazil (2-0), who will face off Monday at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN.

Brazil took down Tunisia on Sunday behind a big game from former Sun Leandro Barbosa. LB exploded for 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting (2-for-2 on threes) to go with six boards and four steals but no assists.

Turkoglu keeps Turkey undefeated in pool play

Meanwhile in Group C, Hedo Turkoglu led Turkey to an important 65-56 victory over Russia to up their record to 2-0 in pool play. [Read more →]