Kenneth Faried is in India, watching the Playoffs and chilling at the Taj

In case you missed it, the "Manimal" himself, Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, landed in India earlier this week in behalf of the NBA to promote the ongoing NBA Playoffs. He will be travelling to Mumbai, Delhi, and Agra during his trip.

Faried's first stop was already at the Taj Mahal in Agra soon after he landed up in India on Wednesday. On Saturday, May 20, he will stop over in New Delhi where he will engage with fans at the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon as part of NBA Zone powered by Jabong, the largest basketball entertainment festival in India. On May 21, Faried will travel to Mumbai for a live television appearance on Sony SIX’s NBA morning show “Around the Hoop” to share his perspective on the NBA Playoffs.

“I’m excited to visit India for the first time and celebrate the Playoffs with fans,” said Faried. “The NBA is doing a lot to develop young players there, and I’m looking forward to seeing the passion they have for the game firsthand.”

“Hosting NBA players in India is an important part of our continued efforts to grow basketball across the country,” said NBA India Managing Director Yannick Colaco. “The opportunity to meet and interact with a player of Kenneth’s caliber will inspire young boys and girls to learn the game and the values it teaches, including teamwork, integrity and respect.”

Faried, a 6’8” forward from Newark, New Jersey, was selected 22nd overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2011 NBA Draft. Faried was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2012 and selected as the Rising Stars Challenge MVP at NBA All-Star 2013 in Houston. Faried averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game over the past season for the Nuggets, who finished 9th in the West.

NBA Zone powered by Jabong is a basketball lifestyle event that brings the NBA experience to fans in India through digital and social media engagement, oncourt competitions, an innovative cinematic experience, gaming, music, merchandise giveaways and more. The event is free and open to the public and will be conducted over 26 weekends in malls across Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, reaching more than half a million fans.

USA stamps basketball dominance with another FIBA World Cup win

Without Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Blake Griffin, or Carmelo Anthony. Without even Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Kevin Love, or Paul George. On paper, the 2014 World Cup featured a younger and 'weaker' USA side. This wasn't the 'redeemed' USA side that - since their last competitive loss in 2006 - had been undefeated and dominated opponents in every international basketball tournament since. This was, what many critics called, the 'C Team', the youngest USA side since the NBA began sending professionals back in 1992.

But basketball games aren't won on paper; Team USA's so-called 'C Team' turned the 'C' into 'Championship', defending the rebranded FIBA World Cup title for the first time in their history with a dominant performance that easily blew out the rest of the global competition. Winning every game by an average margin of 32.5 points, Team USA went an undefeated 9-0 at the World Cup in Spain, capping off their wonderful tournament with their best performance in the final: a 129-92 victory over Serbia in Madrid on Sunday, September 14.

After a slow start as Serbia raced to a 15-7 lead early in the game, USA bounced back with a 15-0 spurt and never looked back. USA made the most of the shortened international three-point line, hitting 11-16 threes in the final. Kyrie Irving (26) and James Harden (23) were the chief perpetrators as Serbia had no answer for the American onslaught. By the end of the contest, eight of the 12 USA players had scored in double figures en route to the 37 point win.

This was USA's fifth gold medal at the FIBA World Cup, tying for top slot with the former Yugoslavia. They have now won 63 straight games - 45 in official FIBA events and 18 in exhibition play - and are automatically qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

USA won all of their group games with relative ease, yet, because of their slow starts and the quality of their opponents, doubts remained about the true talent of this young team. By knocking out Mexico, Slovenia, Lithuania, and then Serbia on the way to the gold, USA went on to erase all such doubts. Kyrie Irving was named tournament's MVP, but this was far from a one-man effort: the likes of Kenneth Faried, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, and more came up big from game to game to keep the Americans at the head of the race.

Since breaking up with Yugoslavia, the silver in 2014 was Serbia's first ever medal at the tournament. Serbia were the competition's unlikely finalists: they won only two of their five group games to sneak into the knockout stage, and then, they suddenly found a way to turn their performances around. The Serbs blew out favoured opponents like Greece and Brazil and held on to win in a classic Semi-Final over France to reach the final.

France won the bronze medal by scraping past Lithuania 95-93 for a close win on Saturday. Led by 27 points by Nicolas Batum, France bounced back from a fourth quarter deficit to claim victory. Lithuania's high scorer was their young center Jonas Valanciunas, who finished with 25 points and nine rebounds. France, who won last year's EuroBasket, will be happy with their performance at the World Cup, especially since they were able to win a medal without the likes of Tony Parker or Joakim Noah in their lineup.

The biggest disappointment at the World Cup was the performance of hosts Spain. Featuring the likes of Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Rudy Fernandez, Spain entered the tournament at full strength and seemed to have all the pieces to be the only true challengers to USA's ascent. This was perhaps the last opportunity of Spain's "golden generation" heralded by Pau Gasol to beat the USA and claim their second World Cup win after 2006. Alas, after a fine start in the group stage and the round of 16, Spain were shocked in one of the great upsets in world basketball by France in the Quarter-Final. A defensive masterclass by the French knocked out the Spaniards and ended any hopes of the dream USA-Spain clash in the Final.

Final Standings

• 1. USA
  
• 2. Serbia
  
• 3. France
  

All Tournament Team

• Kyrie Irving (USA) - MVP 
• Kenneth Faried (USA) 
• Milos Teodosic (Serbia) 
• Nicolas Batum (France) 
• Pau Gasol (Spain)

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Market Men: Biggest names on the NBA’s trading block

3 PM Eastern Time on February 20th – that’s when the NBA market shuts down. And with the deadline looming, teams around the league are exploring, contemplating, and imagining. Some are imagining opposing players in their own jerseys, some are imagining hording up future draft picks, and some are focused single-mindedly on the accounts chart, hoping to clear up as much cap space as possible. Some wanna get better now, some wanna get better later, and some are clueless.

There aren’t too many big names or current All Stars involved in serious trade rumours this season, but here are the top players that could be on the market if their team gets an exciting offer or two.

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