Jennings isn't sold on the Rubio hype, so he blabbed to SI.com that Rubio isn't all that. NBA executives love his trashtalking upside:

"Well, put it like this: If he was in a workout with me [and fellow point-guard prospects] Jonny Flynn, Jrue Holiday, Tywon Lawson, Stephen Curry, he wouldn't probably be at the top," Jennings said Friday.

When asked if he thought Rubio, who has received great attention but has not worked out for NBA teams, is all hype, he said without hesitation, "Yes. Because he played in the Olympics, he's been playing pro ball since he was like 14. So there it is right there. ... I can't wait to play him, though, in summer league. I'm just letting you know that now. I can't wait.

"Yeah, I think I'm a better player than he is. I just shoot the ball better than he can. The only thing I've seen him do sometimes is when he has a home-run pass or something like that. I think the dude is just all hype. I can't even front. I'm just going to be real with you guys."

So there you have it. Jennings goes to Europe and comes back for the NBA Draft when all along, the trick was to actually be from Europe and bigwig the most interested NBA teams. Oh, and Jennings might have a point: When the two squared off on 11 December (Euro!), Rubio went scoreless with three turnovers in eight-plus minutes.

UPDATE: All that stuff Jennings said about Rubio? He didn't mean any of it, he informed the world on Twitter. He would never disrespect Rubio.

Jennings calls Rubio overhyped [Sports Illustrated]

Ah, European hooligans — always good for a riot in Game 1 of the finals. But none of this is too surprising, considering Panathinaikos' fight song, Horto Magico, is a stoner jam, except more hardcore:

It's a magic weed, give me a little bit to taste, to dream of my PAO and shout as far as God: My Panatha, I love you, like heroin, like a hard drug, like hashish, lsd, for you PAO the whole world is stoned, (or: PAO the whole world is high on you), the whole world. My Panatha, my Panatha, I love you, I love you, wherever you may play I will always follow you, I follow you, PAO here, PAO here, PAO there, PAO there, wherever you may play we will always be together, always together.

So for Josh Childress, sounds about as intense as a Stanford-Cal game. (This is what he left for? Really?) Childress was quoted as saying the violence will "make make me think real hard over my future in Europe," but then he denied everything on his Twitter. This morning, he ate lunch on a topless beach.

After the smoke settled, the fans fought the police and Panathinaikos won the game with late free throws. At least I think they did. It's all Greek to me.

Cabezas The Savior And Childress Homesick [Ball in Europe]
Professional Security is Not Bad [True Hoop]

It all started with an illegal screen by Joesph Blair, who you may remember was drafted out of Arizona in 1996, but has spent his entire pro career bouncing around Europe. When two other Russian players got a little shove-y, Blair stepped in with the mother of all sucker punches. (The guy he hit had to be helped off.) The fight pretty much ended after that and compared to most of the NBA fights we're used to seeing, it was all very minor league stuff. Until 16 players got ejected and—here's the best part—Blair was not one of them.

Play resumed with 4-on-4 and eventually whittled down to 3-on-3. Perhaps the league has a "no leaving the bench" rule, too, but we've watched the video a couple of times though and still can't figure out why all the ejections were necessary or why the one guy who actually did some damage was still in the game. Even so, it's good to see that Blair still has that Wildcat fight in him—much like Loren Woods who went all American Psycho in this Lithuanian game last month. Go Cats!

Loren Woods in trouble [Ball In Europe]
Huge Basketball Fight in Russia, Afterwards they play 3 on 3, Video [NESW]