Almost as awesome as 2003 (Pro Update 7-6)

Following on the heels of Elvir Ovcina’s championship in Belgium, Josh Pace has brought home the hardware from even further away.

In the last update we mentioned that Pace was the regular season MVP of the NBL in New Zealand, and that his team, the Nelson Giants, had made the finals of their playoffs. Well, Nelson laughed (‘haw-haw!’) in the faces of their opponents, the Easy LPG Bay Hawks, by sweeping the best-of-three series last week. In Game One, Pace had 23 points and 5 rebounds, leading his team to a 9-point win on the road. In Game 2, Pace had 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, and the Giants celebrated the championship on their home floor. I haven’t found any news on who was named the Playoffs MVP (if they even do such a thing) but the smart money is on J-Peezy, who now has an NBL Championship Medal to go with his NCAA ring.

In NBA news, Mike Waters was first to report that Darryl Watkins signed a free agent contract with the Kings, and Gerry McNamara signed one with the 76ers. They, along with Demetris Nichols, will be playing in the Las Vegas summer league which starts today (in fact, Philadelphia is playing as we speak — the scoreboard shows the game at halftime, and Gerry has not got in the game yet). We’ll let you know how they do.