PARIS [The Monday International Show] - Wow! What a week! Eight days ago, I watched the superior experience and calm,notably of Phil Jackson, plus the steely determination of Kobe's Lakers, dominate the shaky and panicky Magic of stressed out coach, Stan Van Gundy in the NBA finals which were close and spectacular during the middle 3 games.

The overtimes in games 2 and 4 were fatal for Orlando but they rightly feel that they were only one alley-oop and one free throw away from being up 3-1 instead of down 3-1!

From an international standpoint Vucic was MIA,Gortat under-used, and Pietrus became a local star as the NBA's new Bruce Bowen.

Gasol,who was as important to LA's title this time as Garnett was for Boston's last season, slyly outplayed not so super man and turnover prone Dwight Howard avoiding losing a physical battle by using smart positioning and his teammates' help defence.

LA was much stronger inside than Orlando's other playoff opponents and Hedo and Rashard faded as the series progressed.Van Gundy killed Alston's confidence and team chemistry by prematurely bringing back Jameer Nelson.

Stan,nervously did too much gambling,adjusting and overcoaching compared to Jackson's serenity while giving the car keys to Kobe and company.Good move, Phil!

I'm back in France and 2 days ago was an incredible day for french basketball.

The french women unexpectedly won the Eurobasket in Latvia beating the eternel russians pretty handily in the final, 57-53.

They were fortunate to beat tenacious Greece 51-49 in the quarters thanks to 2 late three pointers from heaven and the « never say die » attitude of Gruda, Melain,Dumerc and Lepron.

What a glorious finish to a wonderful career for retiring veteran,Cathy Melain, who played more than expected and brought the right dose of leadership and all around play to a young but talented team in the image of Sandrine Gruda (I played against her dad).

Pierre Vincent,the coach,adds this title to the european junior trophy he won with the Parker generation,bravo!

The same day, in a Paris Bercy arena filled with 15000 fans, the finals of Pro A and Pro B were played.

Deciding the champion in a one game final pleases the media and the beautiful people courtside but this formula is an injustice sportswise compared to a series formula which is used in Spain, Italy and Greece.

Similar to the women's Eurobasket, the scores were very low with Lyon beating Orleans 55 to 41 and Poitiers beating Limoges 67-54, continuing to prove how difficult it is come back to the Pro A level for the legendary club and its fantastic public but Poitiers, in its second final in a row, was collectively superior.

These low scores were a throwback to the Greco-Yugo hyper-defensive, controlled style  of the mid-nineties which might please some afficinados of great defence but isn't very attractive to the casual fans who find it boring.

The french league lacks offensive talent and identifiable french stars which are at a premium because it can't compete budgetwise with the NBA, Spain and Greece for the best players.

The NBA and the Euroleague have less problems with low scoring because of their immense financial resources.

The spanish and greek final series were higher scoring than the Bercy finals because Jasikevicius' or Navarro's salary alone represents the entire budget for many french clubs.

The good news from Lyon's victory is their coach Vincent Collet's capacity to adapt going to a small ball lineup, due to a center being injured, and completely stifling their opponent who shot 24%!

Collet will need all of his astuteness as french national team coach this summer in a tough campaign.

Tony Parker, who became a major stockholder and VP of basketball operations for the Lyon team a few months ago, was not present at Bercy, but Boris Diaw was.

Those two will lead Collet's french team as it tries to qualify for the polish Eurobasket,but their ambition is much higher.

Their goal is to win it all and go down in history with the « hold-up » queens from the french women's team in Latvia!

Georges EDDY