Ming Yao (226-C-80) will miss the remainder of the NBA season with a stress fracture in his left foot. However, he is likely to be able to play in the Olympics this August.

If Yao chooses surgery, according to Houston Rockets team doctor Tom Clanton, it would involve placing screws across the bone to hold it together. The second option would be to treat it with a cast and crutches. Both options involve a healing time of about four months.

This would enable Yao to return to play in late June or early July.

'It is not an injury we feel he can play with,' Clanton said. 'I've made the recommendation that it be treated surgically and we are working with him to get other opinions just to be certain that that is indeed what should be done.'

Clanton said that the injury was caused by an 'accumulation of stresses on the bone. Yao first experienced soreness and pain in his ankle before the All-Star game and tests were done Monday when the situation didn't improve.' This is Yao's fourth major injury in the last two years. He missed 32 games last season with a fracture in his right leg and 21 games in late 2006 with a toe infection that required surgery. He missed four games in April 2006 after breaking his foot. Yao was having a great season for the Rockets, averaging 22 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

Mario Bosnjak (209-C-79) and Hrvoje Gasparac (189-G-84, college: S.Nevada CC) signed for Dubrava (A1). Bosnjak was injured almost whole last season and Gasparac played in Slovakia.

Marin Vrsaljko (201-F-83) and Nenad Delic (210-F/C-84) signed for Vrijednosnice Darda (A2). Vrsaljko came from Posusje (BiH-D1) while Delic came from Macedonian team Strumica.

Great Success for the Cyprus Basketball as Fiba Europe Cup decided to show alive through the official site of the league at http://www.fibaeurope.com/, this is the most historic game for any Cyprus team as possible victory in Ukraine will bring the Cyprus site of AEL in the final four of the competition which will be held (most probably) in Limassol, Cyprus. So who will be the winner, the Serbian, Sasa Bratic (202-F/G-81, agency: Beo Basket), the top performer and scorer of Khimik with 16 points per game or the other Serbian Milutin Aleksic (202-F-82), the top performer and top scorer of AEL with 19 points per game. By tonight everybody will know whether another golden page will be added for the Cyprus Basketball. All the friends of AEL and generally Cyprus Basketball can follow the game through the internet. Just for the information of the general public the Ukrainian TV channel MEGASPORT will have the game alive.

Eurobasket.com - Cyprus wishes all the best to the Limassol team.

It was well known already some days ago, that the starting point guards, Kalman and Wittmann will not be able to play because of their injuries. Tonight the guests found a better replacement, Srdjan Jovanovic scored 11 points in the first half already. On the other side, Kornel Varadi could not replace Kalman as excepted.

In the first two quarters the guests ruled the game - leaded by Dragan Aleksic - and were up by three points after twenty minutes.

There was a big change from the 24th minute of the game, the home team found the rhythm, the guests could not score for 4 minutes, when Williams scored a three pointer. In the last quarter FALCO played a lot of zone defense, which destroyed Pecs's offensive game, so the home team could won by 13 points and keep the chance to reach the Final Four.

Player of the game was lithuanian forward Arnas Kazlauskas who had 29 points and scored 6 three pointers!

FALCO KC-SZOMBATHELY - PVSK-EXPO CENTER PECS 86-73
(15-17, 22-23, 19-13, 30-20)
Szombathely, Att.: 2000, Referees: Papp, Pall, Torok
SZOMBATHELY: Varadi K. 9/6, Bam Doyne (193-G-84, college: Mississippi) 22/6, Draughan 14, Arnas Kazlauskas (204-C/F-76, agency: Court Side) 29/18, Nikola Aliakseyeu (212-C-78, agency: Globalsports/Globalevents, college: Buffalo) 12, Feigl, Will, Coach: Srecko Sekulovic
PECS: Kutasi 2, Nick Williams (192-G-83, agency: Beo Basket, college: Cincinnati) 22/12, Jovanovic 11/3, Toth N. 4, Bojan Lapov (211-C-68) 15/9, Aleksic 13/3, Grebenar 2, Czigler 4, Coach: Stojan Ivkovic

Joel Munoz leaded his team FTC EAD to a needed victory in the brazilian league over CETAF GAROTO 71-58 Munoz helped his cause with 14 Points and 4 Assistances. Joel has the following figures in 7 games played 10.9 Points, 6.6 Assistances; 4.0 Rebounds ; 2.0 Steals in 37 Minutes per game. FTC EAD is in the 9th popsition with a record of 2-6. The other victory of FTC EAD was over Pitagoras Minas in overtime.

BORICUAS ABROAD
In Uleb Cup, Besiktas played a great game against Hapoel Jerusalem. In Istanbul Apodaca's team won with a +20 advantage and They qualified for the next round where Besiktas will play against Red Star Beograd. 'Man of the match' was 'The Wizard Apocadabra' Rick Apodaca who played 37 minutes with 15 pts (6/10 2pts, 0/2 3pts, 3/3 FT), 5 rebs and 3 assists. For 'our other Boricua' Christian Dalmau 12 pts (1/2 2pts, 3/6 3pts, 1/2 FT), 1 reb and 2 assts in 28 minutes.
Turow won against Nymburk 68-66 and also Turow qualified for the next round, the polish team will play against Kiev. Andres Rodriguez played 40 minutes with 7 pts (2/4 2pts, 0/2 3pts, 3/3 FT), 3 rebs and 8 assts.

PJ RAMOS IN BSN
Peter John Ramos (222-C-85) will come back in Puerto Rico to play the BSN 2008. Fuenlabrada let free 'Our Snoop Dogg' who is very happy to come back and play since the beginning the BSN. Ramos should play for Criollos de Caguas, his past team in Puerto Rico.

A. Fontana

A chat with a coach of Tab Baldwin caliber is a regale, no matter what your name is and where you come from.
Coach Baldwin accepted a 10 minutes interview with HalfCourt, but after an hour he was still explaining the differences between the pressing zone and his own defense.
For sure one of the best specialists to coach on Romanian land, Tab Baldwin is a model of erudition in sports in general (he studied and coached rugby as well).
He is a teacher (no matter what his profession is) who has been showing his students on 3 continents that if you want and if you do it properly, you can win.

HalfCourt - Why did you choose U-Mobitelco after your Greek experience? I would have expected you to pick another Greek team, especially because you have family there.
Tab Baldwin - Yes, I do have family in Greece, in Thesaloniki. Cluj has been talking to me, my greek assistant coach has gone to school to Cluj, so when I lost my job, it was almost a no-brainer. I found the people very friendly and very organized.

HalfCourt - Was it a long negotiation?
Tab Baldwin - Actually it was not. When the job fell over, the decision was there. My mentality was 'I want to keep coaching'. I was so disappointed with the Greek management, so poor and so unreliable. The negotiation with Mircea Cristescu was very simple and honest.

HalfCourt - How is your adjustment going so far ?
Tab Baldwin - I've been around for 20 years. I think I'm adaptable to any environment. Comparing with the unreliability from Greece and Turkey, it is different to me in Romania. My management here in Cluj is very accountable to their word. I guess it is very specific, depending on the organization.

HalfCourt - What do you like and what you don't like the Cluj's team ?
Tab Baldwin - The team has good characters. When I arrived to Cluj, they lacked strong leadership and had a disjointed mentality. The players have began to realize how serious I am about coaching and how important is being a good team. We have now the spirit of a good team, Serbians, Romanians and Americans blending in naturally in their background to be submissive.

HalfCourt - How different is Romania from Greece ?
Tab Baldwin - I think Greece mentality is very laid back, fantastic from the personal point of view. Romania is to me a more dependable and professional society.

HalfCourt - What made you not change the team after you've taken over U-Mobitelco Cluj ? Each coach would like to bring over his own players.
Tab Baldwin - I have a rear philosophy: I don't like to change personnel. I'm big on loyalty. When players sign contracts, you have a responsibility, whose fault is if it doesn't work ? Who am I to change this ? I know many of the coaches don't think like that.

HalfCourt - When you took over the team, rumors said that you wanted to bring over Pero Cameron, your New Zealander star. How true that was ?
Tab Baldwin - Just rumors. If I could, he would be the first one to pick. But Pero is a man of honor, he is under contract and he will keep his word.

HalfCourt - Going back in time, 2002 and 4th place at the World Cup with the Tall Blacks has been the best moment of your life ?
Tab Baldwin - Tremendous moment for me. Although draining, I was working for few years 2 jobs, for a Basketball Performance association in New Zealand and the national team, and then I was coaching Banvitspor, the Turkish team, and the Kiwi national team in the same time. You need an off-season and I wasn't getting that. I hated to leave New Zealand.

HalfCourt - How would you characterize yourself as a coach ?
Tab Baldwin -I'm more focused to the defensive end. I don't like the European style of basketball the one that Americans use right now. That one says this player is PG that one is a SG and so on. I like complete players. Complete players that play complete type of basketball .

HalfCourt - Could you be more detailed with your defense ?
I've been working a lot of years on a specific type of complex defense and I tried to implement that to my new team. I mix man-to-man with zone, sometimes during the same possession. All my players can play all of type the defenses. The frequency of the execution though is the problem we have from time to time. But we're getting there.

HalfCourt - What do you think about the Romanian refs so far ? Last week Cluj fans and lots of other Romanian fans sympathized with you when you took a technical foul for saying to referee Banica: 'I have absolutely no respect for you'. What triggered that unorthodox way of getting a T?
Tab Baldwin - First of all, the comment was referring to one specific play only. At that play, all three referees didn't call a blatantly evident foul. What I expect from a referee is not to be a judge, but to be consistent and to call the game by the rules. After the game we played in Medias, I went to the referees and I thanked them for the consistent way they refereed. And I meant it. As a coach I used to be able to go to the referees before the game and ask them how they normally call this rule or that rule (hand check rule, 3 seconds etc). That gave me an idea about the way the referee behaves and I could send the information to my players. But lately, more and more refs avoid talking to the coaches at all before the games.

HalfCourt - How close is your relationship with your assistant coaches ? How skilled are they ?
Tab Baldwin - I'm really fortunate to have Dorin and Marcel as assistant coaches. They are both very organized and extremely helpful. Dorin (N.R. Dorin Pintea) gives me ad-hoc kind of scouting reports, stories about teams and players, everything we need, schedules, meals, water etc, really doing a very good job. Quality basketball info, which is a plus. Marcel Tenter is a guy that has a big future in coaching, he played and coached under very good coaches. He is an enthusiastic, has the passion. That could be though an asset and a liability. He does the scouting report and the analysis. Very good tactical knowledge reports, very good input during the games, strategic and tactical moves. He is very advanced in the coaching career

HalfCourt - What did you do to Silvasan ? He seems to be the hot hand these days ? Did you inject him with some confidence ? How did you do that ?
Tab Baldwin - I don't think it's anything that I did. He is a smart, energetic and enthusiastic player. He has very good skills, just a matter in getting in better shape. He had take better decisions when shooting, otherwise a coachable player.

HalfCourt - Where do you see you team at the end of the season ? What are you trying to leave behind you ?
Tab Baldwin - I understand the spirit of your question. I would like my guys to execute critical plays and to understand to play as a team and how much more to produce for themselves and for the team. I just don't think we have the talent as individuals, but if they can take their abilities and put it together, we can be as good as the other teams and maybe better. We should be in a good position in the Play-offs. I really want to win the title with my team.

HalfCourt: We wish good luck !
Tab Baldwin - Thank you very much.

source: www.halfcourt.info

Khimki is all but in the ULEB Cup Last 16 after a 19-point road victory in the first leg at Koln 99ers. Head coach Kestutis Kemzura 's Khimki grabbed a 91-72 win over an inspired Koln, which was under-manned due to a near financial collapse. Khimki shot 52% for the game and forced 17 turnovers while turning the ball over only 9 times. Kemzura's Russian team eventually proved too much for Koln, blowing the game open after leading by only three points going into the fourth. Center