TULCEA, Romania — Sneaking onto the floor at halftime to ask the visiting star for a selfie? I know we had that crazy incident during Game 1 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio when a courtside fan dangerously ran onto the wood in search of some in-game virality alongside Victor Wembanyama, but you really don’t see that too often back home.
Emphasis on back home.
As I was quickly reminded on a hastily assembled trip to the delightful new 5,000-seat Danubius Arena in a port city unaccustomed to hosting sporting events of significance, things can be a bit more informal in the international arena than we’re accustomed to in NBA surroundings.
And that led to a scene that The Words Guy actually caught (for once) with my iPhone camera even though I didn’t quite believe what was happening: Bulgaria star Sasha Vezenkov graciously agreed to stop and pose for a few pics with giddy Romanian youngsters who interrupted his warmups before the home team was even back on the floor for the second half:
Vezenkov had 22 of his 36 points by that point in Bulgaria’s eventual 103-86 victory over Romania in a 2029 EuroBasket qualifying game that provided my own savory taste of FIBA window dressing. From Aug. 27-31, 40-ish NBA players — along with a slew of former NBAers like Vezenkov — turned out for their national teams and provided us all with a desperately needed five-day hoops fix as we slog through a wait that still has three weeks to go for the 28 teams (all but Macao-bound Dallas and Houston) that won’t officially be back together until a leaguewide burst of Media Day activities on Sept. 28.
Last Monday alone: Denver’s Nikola Jokić played through a nasty illness to captain Serbia to a gritty victory over Italy … Miami’s Pelle Larsson continued a breakout summer for Sweden with another strong game in defeat to Wemby-captained France …Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe (The Bahamas), new Atlanta teammates Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Lu Dort (Canada) and the LA Clippers’ Rui Hachimura (Japan) all delivered their own gaudy stat lines … and Greece managed to beat Spain in overtime without the resting Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Your humble correspondent, meanwhile, was on his own little adventure.