Brazil beats Puerto Rico to win 2009 FIBA Americas Championship

Euroleague.net reports: Brazil held on to beat Puerto Rico 60-61 in a tense and exciting final to claim the gold medal at the FIBA Americas Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico. All-Euroleague center Tiago Splitter of Caja Laboral shined with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists and Leandro Barbosa netted 24 to lead Brazil to the win. Brazil never trailed and led by as many as 16 in the third quarter, but Puerto Rico rallied and had a chance to win it at the buzzer. Barbosa scored 8 points during a 2-12 second-quarter run that helped Brazil to a 28-36 halftime advantage.

Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports (via blog): After sitting out Brazil’s final two quarterfinal round games, Barbosa returned to lead Brazil in scoring twice again. Barbosa posted 22 points in Saturday’s semifinal win against Canada and added 24 points in Sunday night’s gold medal game victory against host Puerto Rico. Playing at San Juan’s Coliseo Roberto Clemente, Brazil needed every one of Barbosa’s points in a 61-60 win. Barbosa scored 21 points in the first three quarters and had Brazil ahead 50-37 entering the fourth quarter, when he went cold with a 1-for-9 quarter that included misses on his last five attempts. For the game, Barbosa was 1 of 8 from 3-point range  (9 of 23 overall) but he still outdueled Puerto Rico’s Carlos Arroyo, who scored 14 on 6-of-15 shooting and missed a 3-point shot to win the game.

Euroleague.net reports: Argentina dominated Canada from start to finish to claim the bronze medal with an 88-73 victory. Real Madrid playmaker Pablo Prigioni wrapped up a brilliant tournament with 17 points and 8 assists and former All-Euroleague power forward Luis Scola netted 27 points to lead the Argentinean charge. Scola finished the tournament in first place in scoring with 23.3 points per game, while Prigioni’s 7.4 assists per game was also best in the event.

Warriors team dentist dies

Angela Hill of the Oakland Tribune reports: Dr. Derric DesMarteau, longtime team dentist for the Golden State Warriors, the Oakland Raiders and other sports organizations as well as a highly regarded private dentist with a thriving practice in Piedmont, died Aug. 20 from complications from cancer. He was 58. “He had such a love of dentistry, such an unbelievable passion for it,” said Rhonda Nelson, who worked with DesMarteau for 17 years as his office manager. “He could work magic with people. Patients came to him when other dentists said they’d given up on them, so he would often get unusual cases and restore their whole mouths.”

Lamar Odom dating Khloe Kardashian

Janis Carr of the Orange County Register reports (via blog): Reality TV star (and we use that term loosely) Khloe Kardashian will be the newest celeb Lakers fan sitting courtside, thanks to her boyfriend Lamar Odom. “They’re very, very happy,” the Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami star’s sister, Kim Kardashian, tells PEOPLE magazine. “They’ve been together a few weeks, and are literally inseparable. Khloe thinks he’s amazing and makes her laugh and smile constantly.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: As fun as Kim looks, my favorite Kardashian girl is Kourtney.

Francisco Garcia breaks finger

Sacramento Kings swingman Francisco Garcia fractured his right ring finger while playing for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship. He will not play in the remainder of the tournament and will return to Sacramento late next week, at which time the injury will be further evaluated. Garcia is entering his fifth NBA season (all with the Kings).

Beno Udrih has left knee strain

Sacramento Kings’ guard Beno Udrih strained his left knee while playing for the Slovenian national team. Per Udrih’s representatives, an MRI was taken and was negative. He will remain with the Slovenian team and be evaluated by the Kings’ medical staff when he returns to Sacramento in late September. Udrih is entering his sixth NBA season, and third with the Kings.

Timberwolves sign Ramon Sessions to offer sheet

Timberwolves sign Ramon Sessions to offer sheet

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed restricted free-agent guard Ramon Sessions to an offer sheet. Under the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Milwaukee Bucks will have seven days upon receiving the offer sheet to match Minnesota’s offer.

SEPT. 11 UPDATE:  The Bucks did not match the offer.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the deal was for four years and $16 million.

“We are excited about the opportunity to have Ramon Sessions on our team,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “Ramon has the ability to play both guard positions, and thus will be able to complement the members of our current backcourt. At only 23, Ramon also has the potential to improve and fits our plan of building a young, up-tempo team with championship contending potential.”

Sessions, a 6-3 guard from Nevada-Reno, had a break-out season in 2008-09, averaging 12.4 points (.445 FG%) and 5.7 assists in 27.5 minutes per game in 79 contests (39 starts). His 5.7 assists per game led the Bucks and ranked 18th in the NBA. Sessions scored in double figures 53 times (12 times 20+ points), dished out 10+ assists on 10 occasions and posted nine double-doubles during the season. Additionally, he finished the year with a 2.97:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, the ninth-best ratio in the NBA. He scored a career-high 44 points, along with 12 assists, against Detroit on Feb. 7.

In 2007-08 as a rookie, Sessions averaged 8.1 points, 7.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 17 games. He set a Bucks franchise record with 24 assists against Chicago on April 14, while also tallying 20 points. He became the first Bucks player to notch 20 points and 20 assists in the same game. Selected by Milwaukee in the second round (56th pick) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Sessions has averaged 11.6 points, 6.0 assists, 3.4 rebounds in 27.3 minutes per game in 96 contests (46 starts).

Alex Acker signs in Italy

The Detroit Free Press reports: Free-agent shooting guard Alex Acker has signed to play this season with the Italian club Armani Jeans Milano — taking the former Piston back to the Euroleague after a second stint in the NBA. The 6-foot-5 26-year-old played sparingly for the Pistons last season, appearing in seven games before being dealt to the Clippers in February. The Pistons, who were basically dumping salary, received future draft picks in return.

NBA to set Twitter restrictions for players, coaches

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo reports: NBA commissioner David Stern told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday the league will soon follow the NFL in announcing Twitter guidelines and other social media restrictions for its players and coaches. “Obviously, there is a happy medium between tweeting before the game and tweeting from our bench during the game,” Stern said by phone. “You want to make sure that pop culture doesn’t intrude on what brought us here, which is the game, and that we show the right respect for the game.” The NFL announced its own guidelines on Monday by restricting players, coaches and football operations personnel – or anyone representing them – from using social media networks like Twitter and Facebook from 90 minutes before kickoff to the end of traditional media interviews after games. NFL game officials are banned from using social media at all times. Stern described the NBA’s guidelines as “nothing too serious.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: I understand it if the league decides that players aren’t to post on the Internet for a period of time before a game starts through after a game has ended. These guys are getting paid crazy money to focus 100 percent on winning, and entertaining the fans who are paying to be in the arena. Just like companies can set Internet guidelines on what employees are allowed to do in an office, I understand the league doing that around game-time.

Pacers sign A.J. Price

The Indiana Pacers announced Wednesday they have signed their second round draft pick (52nd pick overall) A.J. Price to a multi-year contract.

Per club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Price, a 6-2, 181-pound guard from the University of Connecticut, was named to the All-Big East Second Team, USBWA All-District First Team and Big East All-Tournament Team as a senior.

For his career, he had 1,284 career points in three seasons, ranking 25th all-time at Connecticut. He also handed out 469 career assists (4.7 apg), which ranks 9th in school history.

Bruce Bowen retires

Bruce Bowen to retire

The AP reports: Bruce Bowen won’t be pestering the NBA’s best anymore. The 38-year-old former San Antonio Spurs forward retired Thursday after 12 seasons and a reputation as one of the league’s most menacing defenders, hounding opponents with a tenacity that some players groused was more dirty than dogged. He called it quits after being waived this summer by Milwaukee, where the Spurs dealt him in a veteran dump-off for swingman Richard Jefferson — a decision Bowen said he understood. “You need to do things to better the business, and the Spurs definitely got better in the players they received, so I’m looking forward to continuously supporting the Spurs, but from more of a distance now,” he said in a news conference at his wife’s San Antonio salon. Bowen said he had been weighing retirement for the last five years.

ESPN.com reports: After helping the San Antonio Spurs win three championships and establishing himself as perhaps the premier perimeter defender of his generation, Bruce Bowen is retiring at 38. Bowen told ESPN.com that he will formally announce his retirement at a Thursday afternoon news conference and said he would elaborate more on his decision then. The announcement was scheduled to take place at the San Antonio spa/salon he co-owns and operates with his wife, Yardley… It was initially believed that Bowen would then sign in August with one of the Spurs’ championship rivals. Orlando, Boston and Cleveland were all mentioned as possibilities. But he has apparently decided instead to pursue his off-court business and community interests as well as a career in broadcasting.