Croatian representatives Bojan Bogdanović, Mario Hezonja, and Dario Šarić were remarkable for their NBA teams on Tuesday night. 

The Los Angeles Lakers are no less glamorous than Hollywood, and the current star of this basketball blockbuster is the young Croatian center Ivica Zubac. 

The 21-year-old Ivica Zubac played the best game of his season for the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Bojan Bogdanović and Dario Šarić were again great for their teams last night, though both the Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves were unable to pull a victory. The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, have set a new NBA record for the number of three-pointers scored, reports HRT on December 20, 2018. 

The Indiana Pacers played away in Toronto where they lost 99-96 to the Raptors. Fred VanVleet scored 25.9 seconds before the end for the Raptors’ win.

Toronto came back from 17 points behind. The team was led by Kawhi Leonard who scored 28 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Pascal Siakam added 17 points with seven rebounds, and Greg Monroe scored 13 points and eight rebounds.

The best for Indiana, who tallied their second defeat in a row, was Victor Oladipo with 20 points, while Bogdanović was the second best with 18 points in 33 minutes on the court (shots in play 7/13, three-pointers 3/6). Bogdanović added five rebounds, an assist and two steals.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were defeated at home 129-123 after the Detroit Pistons won in extra time. The best on the Pistons was Blake Griffin who finished with 34 points, and Reggie Bullock who had 33.

Andre Drummond, who scored 16 points and had the same number of rebounds, took the game to extra time after scoring in the final second of regular time. 

The best for Minnesota was Derrick Rose who scored 33 points and seven assists, while Robert Covington added 22. Dario Šarić, however, was excellent for the Timberwolves, scoring 15 points in 32 minutes on the court (shots in play 6/10, three-pointers 2/5), with six rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Mario Hezonja and Ante Žižić both had time on the court last night, while Dragan Bender did not play for the Phoenix Suns.

The New York Knicks suffered a defeat in Philadelphia, losing 131-110 to the 76ers. Joel Embiid led the 76ers with 24 points and 10 rebounds, which is his 28th double-double this season. Ben Simmons achieved his fourth triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Tim Hardaway Jr. was the most effective for New York with 27 points, while Hezonja scored only two from free throws in four minutes on the court.

The Charlotte Hornets were better than Cleveland Cavaliers, winning 110-99 at home. The Hornets were led by Kemba Walker who scored 30 points.

The Cavaliers were led by Jordan Clarkson who scored 20 points, while Ante Žižić scored seven (shots in play 3/4) with four rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes on the court. 

The Phoenix Suns played away in Boston to win 111-103. Not even Kyrie Irving could help the Celtics, who scored 29 points and ten assists.

The Houston Rockets set a new NBA record last night, according to the number of three-pointers achieved in a single game. In the 136-118 victory over the visiting Washington Wizards, the Rockets achieved 26 three-pointers out of 55 attempts.

James Harden finished the game with 35 points, of which six were three-pointers. Chris Paul scored 21 points with eight assists, and Clint Capel scored 20 points with 12 rebounds. The best for Washington was Bradley Beal with 28 points.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

An American journalist insults Dražen Petrović and invites a wave of criticism on social media for her clumsy statement, for which she appears to have offered no apology.

As SibenikIN writes on the 19th of December, 2018, in a short video clip about Carmelo Anthony and his legacy, American journalist Elle Duncan mentions Croatia's basketball legend Dražen Petrović, bizarrely claiming that he found himself in the Hall of Fame despite the fact that he, at least according to her, ''didn't leave his mark on the game'' like Carmelo Anthony has. In short, Carmelo Anthony and his career were glorified in the video clip, as tportal reported.

After having listed what could be placed as Anthony's legacy within the sport, the American journalist insults Dražen Petrović, stating that the list ''doesn't mean much'' because Dražen Petrović (which was also pronounced wrongly) is there," before claiming that the Croatian basketball star ''didn't leave his mark on the game'' like Anthony did.

In short and without going on and on, the American ESPN journalist obviously thinks some basketball players who weren't that great at the NBA have also still managed to find their places in the Hall of Fame.

As could be expected, shortly after the release of this video material, the style of which was intended to be amusing somehow, comments began being made in which the vast majority of readers thought that the journalist's ''performance'' was ridiculous, others stated how much of a sad state of affairs it must be for someone like her to be commenting on basketball.

This poses the question as to exactly why Croatia's incredible Dražen Petrović, of all the possible basketball players in the Hall of Fame, can be a bad example in Duncan's opinion? Just how the iconic Dražen Petrović, who played an enormous part in making it possible for many foreign players to get a chance in that world, could be a poor example, obviously only she knows. Does she know anything at all about Dražen's sporting career before joining the NBA, during which he dominated the court in the then Yugoslav and the Croatian national team? Unlikely.

The American journalist's Twitter profile, on which some extremely negative comments have been being received, is completely buried. Of course, more than 90 percent of the basketball lovers commenting ''invited'' her to apologise for her mistake, but it seems she's refusing to do so. The fact that she has offended Dražen Petrović, his family, and all those who appreciate the Mozart of basketball, clearly doesn't phase her. Her knowledge of the fact that there is a Museum dedicated to Dražen Petrović himself in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, which has been visited by many NBA stars, as well as numerous American journalists, is probably also slim.

''It's unbelievable and unnecessary to show such a lack of respect for Dražen Petrović. He was a fantastic basketball player who created a path for all other European basketball players in the NBA. He was tragically injured before he could give anything to the NBA. You could've done this without mentioning Dražen,'' stated one comment.

''Only a completely ignorant person can claim that Dražen Petrović didn't leave a mark in basketball. Dražen left his mark all over the world and achieved incredible things before he even reached the NBA. No wonder everyone thinks of ESPN as bad television when you've got such reporters,'' reads another scathing comment.

In order to glorify someone, one doesn't need to put another down. This is usually something learned early on in life, but that lesson obviously hasn't reached everyone.

Make sure to stay up to date with our dedicated sport and lifestyle pages for much more.

The Phoenix Suns, the worst team in the NBA league, have achieved only six wins in 30 games this season. One of them, unfortunately, was against Dario Šarić's new club the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday (107:99), reports Index.hr on December 16, 2018 

Croatia national team representative Dario Šarić finally got a chance in the starting lineup - the first time for his new club - and used the opportunity to play the best match since his abrupt move to Minnesota last month. The young Šibenik native was able to achieve a double-double, scoring 15 points with 11 rebounds, and was 50% for shots in play. Despite Šarić’s superstar effort, however, the Wolves entered their fourth consecutive defeat in their fourth straight away game. 

The Suns celebrated thanks to the return of their best player, Devin Booker, who missed six games due to lower back problems. Booker did not have any restrictions on his performance and scored 28 points during his 35 minutes on the court. He also added seven rebounds with just as many assists.

Šarić was given a chance in the starting lineup because Taj Gibson, the favorite of coach Tom Thibodeau, had to miss the game for personal reasons.

However, considering that he entered the game from the bench two games before this, Šarić is receiving more than 30 minutes on the court on average, and if we count this match, Šarić has, in the last three games, averaged 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, meaning he should continue to get good playing time at his new club. 

In other NBA news, Bojan Bogdanović scored 18 points, with five rebounds and two assists, and started the turnaround of the Indiana Pacers, who celebrated 113:101 away in Philadelphia - even though the 76ers had a 10-point advantage in the second half. 

It was the 20th consecutive match in which Bogdanović achieved a double-digit number of points and his seventh game in December alone. In December, the Pacers completed six wins, and Croatia’s best basketball player averaged 20.5 points.

To read more about Croats in the NBA, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

Croatia’s best basketball player Bojan Bogdanović is shining this season in the Indiana Pacers jersey, though things for his beloved Croatia team and their chances of going to the FIBA World Cup in 2019 are getting slimmer, reports T.portal on December 11, 2018. 

This season, 29-year-old Bojan Bogdanović picked up his game to an even higher level. He is currently averaging 16.6 points (the highest in his career), 3.9 rebounds, and is shooting 49% of three-pointers (3rd in the league) - and we also have to remember that a dozen or so games have been without the Pacers' best player, Victor Oladipo. But, despite Indiana's problems, they are currently fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"I have the confidence of my teammates and we can say that this is the best season of my career," Bogdanović told Eurohoops.net.

However, it seems that Bojan and Dario Šarić have not been adequately exploited in the Croatia national team jersey, who, after several defeats in the 2019 World Cup qualifiers (ratio 4-6), are in a very tough position. 

Again, with Croatia’s recent defeat to Lithuania (79:62) and Poland’s win over Italy (94:78), Croatia will no longer decide their fate in the remaining two qualifiers at the end of February (against Hungary away and Poland at home). The chances of going to the World Cup are now reduced to theory. Particularly, Poland now has two more wins than Croatia, which means that beating Poland at home is still not enough for Croatia -  they will also need the Netherlands, the weakest team in the group, to pull an upset against Poland. 

Unfortunately, because Bogdanović and Šarić have obligations in the NBA league, they will miss the final two crucial FIBA World Cup qualifiers in February, 

"We are far away from the tournament, but I still hope we will be able to secure our place and play there next year," Bogdanović said.

Asked what he thinks about the qualifications for the 2019 World Cup and the fact that many teams could not play with players in Euroliga and the NBA, Bogdanović answered sincerely:

“It really does not make sense, not that way. Slovenia, who is the current European champion, will not be at the World Cup in China. And probably several strong national teams like Turkey and Croatia will miss out on the World Cup. We are far away from playing in China, and I repeat that it does not make sense to play it this way,” Bogdanović, the best shooter in the history of the Croatia national team, said truthfully. 

To read more about Bojan Bogdanović, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

Bojan Bogdanović is on a roll for the Indiana Pacers this season. 

Dario Šarić played yet another modest match in the Minnesota jersey. 

Dario Šarić became part of the Minnesota Timberwolves squad earlier this month.